Dovahkiin of Zero
by sayain673
Summary: The Hero that claimed a Warrior's heart is summoned from the wintery land of Skyrim and into a foreign world to be the Familiar of Louise "The Zero" Valerie. This wasn't in the Conjuration section of the spell book. Cannot decide on rating for now.
1. Call of Valor: The First Response

**Hey, guys! I know you're waiting for my next chapter of _Conduit of Zero (it's almost done)_, but I was playing Skyrim over the weekend and...I REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A CROSSOVER. The fic "Dragonborn of Zero" was excellent. I wish that the author made more, instead of it being a one-shot. Also, the one on the top of the page was a little hard to read due to typos, grammatical errors and centering the thing. So, here's what tons of people have been waiting for...**

**_Dovahkiin of Zero_**

**Character Stats (not completed) will be up on my Profile, but I can say that my character is Imperial and is proficient in both swordplay and magic (BRING IT ON, GUCHIE!).**

**P.S. There is a poll on my profile that will feature characters from video games and manga. Which of these characters would you like to see written into the FoZ universe? You get two votes each.**

**P.P.S. This is only an experiment. If you would like to see more, please review.**

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**Disclaimer!**

**Winterhelm Guard: "_I used to be a fanfiction writer like you...but then I forgot the disclaimer and took a copyright violation to my personal record. My cousin is out writing fanfiction and what do I get? Disclaimer duty. _**

**_sayain673 does not own the Elder Scrolls franchise nor the Familiar of Zero franchise. Bethesda Game Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru own them, respectively. The only things that sayain673 owns is his copy of Skyrim for the ps3 and his in game character. _**

**_Now, let me guess...someone hasn't updated their fanfiction that you absolutely adore."_**

**_DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS?_**

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**Bold- Language of Dragons/Shouts**

**_Bold Italic- Mysteriousness/Epic-ness_**

Normal- Narrative

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_**Chapter 1- Call of Valor**_

_I_ almost gave a sigh of ecstasy as my mace smashed into the face of a bandit that had the nerve to hold me up. The poor fool had stopped me as I was aimlessly traveling through the mountain roads near Whiterun, doing random tasks that citizens from around the cities had asked of me to complete. Not even the full Daedric armor fazed the damned Dark Elf, seeing as he made a move for my coin purse. I guess they had their share of problems too, seeing as they were labeled as one of the "untrust-worthies" in the land of Skyrim and were forced to make a living from dirt. After taking what I could (which was not much) from his corpse, I mounted onto my black war-horse and we continued on our journey, unmolested.

There was so much to do. Perhaps I was too generous in accepting quests from strangers. My black beard would be as long and as white as those of the Greybeards in High Hrothgar by the time I was done running around Skyrim like a town chicken. Doing endless jobs over, and over, and over would drive me as mad as my "friend", Cicero. That damned jester was soon gonna have an "anonymous" person perform the Black Sacrament on him and I think that I might know the anonymous person quite well; perhaps even be related to him.

There was little for me left to do in the Dark Brotherhood. Activities had gone down nearly to zero with the Companions. Becoming Archmagus at Winterhold confined me to pacing the hallways studiously. Thievery had become boring with the guild, even with bucketing and stealing the clothes of off people (group activity at the thieves guild. HIGHLY recommended to perverts with no morals at all). Being Thane at all of the cities only seemed to increase my list of misc. tasks that had to be completed. Need I mention hunting the Daedric shrines?

Maybe I should resume practicing on the lute that was gathering dust in my inventory. Some tone-dealf idiot who claimed to be "a traveling bard" sang the traditional song "The Dragonborn Comes" so out of tune, that a whole pack of wolves rushed at me, clearly mad and begging to be put out of their misery. After granting their request, I immediately moved to "bucket" the bastard and swipe my gold back, along with the lute. Ever since, I've been practicing to perfect the song so that no species in the land of Skyrim would ever associate the Dragonborn with the original, but torturous, melody.

But the civil war raged on, Imperials and Stormcloacks butchering each other in violent clashes across the land. I was still undecided about the whole bloody conflict, due to many moral issues flying around in my helmet. Ulfric Stormcloak had used his Voice, a gift given to him by the Greybeards themselves; a tool of bringing oneself closer to the Divines, to usurp the High King and murder him in cold blood. However, the Empire clearly had ties to the Thalmar and revolved too comfortably around "shadow politics" as a course of action when "disciplining" the Nor-

Shadowmere reared suddenly and I blanched forward, swearing as I grabbed the reins with an armored hand. Regaining my control over the Daedric mount, I glanced up to see what unnerved her so.

My face paled and my eyes widened at the sight of two giants sprinting towards us, three mammoths bringing up the rear guard. Mentally cursing myself, I realized I had not been paying attention to where I was traveling and I had strayed onto a Giants' Campsite. Sure, I had bested a giant before, with the help of either Lydia, Aela or another one of my companions, but to take on two of the giants would be damn near suicidal, with their pets possessing tusks large enough to impale a Dragon.

Spurring Shadowmere, we raced through the grassy plains, narrowly avoiding a thrust from a mammoth's tusk as we passed through it's front legs. I unsheathed my Daedric Swords and slashed the fibrous muscles on the mammoth's left and right legs, causing sprays of blood to shoot onto my armor. The beast let out a roar of agony. I smirked as we charged out from under its body before it collapsed onto its side. Investing in blacksmithing had been a MARVELOUS decision on my part.

The giants gave chase to us, lumbering towards us with the speed of a Mudcrab, but rage and bloodlust shone in their eyes and I knew that I was going to have to face them eventually. Dismounting Shadowmere, I prepared a spell in my left hand. Purple energy swirled as the spell began to draw energy from my Magika and my fists clenched in preparation to release the magic. As the giants and mammoths drew near, I unleashed the purple energy, roaring across the ground and landing to open up a portal to the Oblivion Plane. Heeding my summons was an Frost Thrall who pulled itself out of the portal and engaged the giants, smashing blow after blow into their bodies with its icy hands.

Shadowmere, my daft, brave, stupid, Daedric steed charged into the fray and ran towards the Frost Thrall and began to stomp on them. The remaining two mammoths were beginning to close in on us and I still didn't like the odds of my allies and myself standing off against a multitude of foes. Recalling the cryptic words that were part of the gift of my destiny, I shouted to the sky, my voice permeating the endless aura of Skyrim's heavens as I called for aid.

**"OD...AH-VIING!"**

Gathering my breath, I heard a small SQUISH to my left and I saw that my Thrall had smashed one giant's head into the ground. Judging by the amount of splatter on the dirt, the giant wouldn't be getting up in a hurry, if not at all. Sprinting forward, I took my Daedric sword and slashed it across the giant's leg. 'twas but a scratch on the skin of a behemoth like that, but I heard it shout in pain and it brought it's club downwards to the location of my head. I rolled to the side as the club struck the earth, sending dirt into the visage of my helm. Cursing, I rubbed the dirt out of the Daedric helmet and saw the club descend again, no time to react fast enough.

The sound of shattering ice was heard as my Thrall jumped between wooden death and its summoner, turning its head to meet my eyes before the club struck its back. The impact blew me off my feet and Shadowmere was sent flying into the air. I heard her land, and due to neighs and nickers of indignity, I could tell she was still alive. Turning my head around, I saw the foot of a giant poised above my body in a taunting matter, ready to bring it down with the force of Alduin's fury. I didn't close my eyes as death descended towards me, because what Imperial would turn his/her face from the last sight they would see? I awaited the feeling of pain that would come and the rush of my spirit exit my body and enter the halls of Sovngarde.

But the only thing I felt was an intense heat that made me close my eyes and throw up my hands to shield from the intense light. I heard the monster in front of me scream in agony and I heard the beating of wings as a roar echoed from above my head. Though momentarily blinded, I could make out shadows, obscuring my vision, covering me from the danger. I grinned for the first time in a few days and I uncovered my eyes to find my aid from the heavens. Poised above me, snarling towards the smoldering giant corpse was my friend and ally, Odahviing. The blood-red dragon looked to me and gave a sound that could be equivocated to a laughing dragon, accompanied by a plume of smoke exiting his nostrils.

"**Aam...Faal dovahkiin los aan mey**." he grumbled, eying the approach of the mammoths over the small hill where we took a brief respite. "How mad you must be, to challenge a horde of giants and mammoths! Why I help such a fool is beyond my reasoning..."

"Odahviing!" I shouted, "Well met, friend! But save your banter for later; now is the time to fight!"

The mirth in his throat was easily heard from my current position.

**"Jul yah grah ahst pah sul ahrk vulon..."**, he rumbled, before spreading his wings and launching himself into the air.

"Don't attack Shadowmere like LAST TIME!" I shouted to him as we charged the behemoths, my Ebony blade glistening black in the sunlight.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_  


In a distant land, far away from the bounteous terrains of Skyrim, a young girl, nearing the age of reason, separated herself from a crowd of young boys and girls, marching forward with the proud demeanor that only a Noble born could ever possess. Oblivious to the jeers and noise of the crowd, she closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths. Unsheathing a wooden rod from her side and closing her eyes, the girl began to chant in a melodious tone that rendered the skies silent as her plea soared towards the Divines.

**_"I beg of you!"_**

_My sword slashed through the sinewy hide of the mammoth's trunk, causing it to roar in agony. It turned to me, eyes filled with bloodlust and lifted a massive hoof in an attempt to crush me. Odahviing strafed through the air and sent a plume of fire towards the enraged beast, engulfing it in tongues of flame. Shadowmere raced through the circle of flames surrounding me and the monster and I swung myself onto her back. Jabbing my heel into her side, she charged through the fire and the flames, carrying me beyond the circle of hellish death. __  
_

___Drawing my bow from Shadowmere's saddle bag, I nocked an arrow and aimed at the untouched mammoth, giving chase to us. My arrow flew with a dissonant "twang" and whistled through the air, aimed towards the creature's right eye. My arrow flew true and struck precisely where it was meant to go, drawing a smirk on my lips and a howl from my enemy in front of me. It reared in pain and lifted off its front legs, shaking its head and trying to dislodge the appendage stuck in it's eye. Sheathing my bow, I jumped off of my mare and charged towards the thrashing mammoth, drawing two black swords and leaping into the air._

_**"My servant who lives somewhere in the universe!"**_

_The blades of my sword penetrated the skull of the mammoth as I landed on the head of the monster, bone meeting Ebony; breakable barrier meeting an unstoppable force. The warm spray of blood and grey fluid drenched my armor and I struggled not to gag at the stench that followed. The behemoth gave a final roar and collapsed to the ground, shaking the world as its massive corpse fell. I pulled my blades out of the beast, still twitching in its death throes and sheathed the swords that came out of my own forge._

_A sudden roar took me by surprise and a tremendous force knocked me off my feet. Swearing, I pulled myself up and the visage of a flaming, enraged mammoth filled the eye holes of my visor. With no time to draw my sword, I instantly leapt to the gift of magic. The last spell that I had used instinctively charged in my hand and I was painfully aware of the seconds that passed as the mana charged and the beast drew nearer._

_**"Oh sacred, strong and beautiful familiar!**"_

___I flung my arm in front of me, launching a purple vortex towards the behemoth. As the furry brute drew close to the portal, a white fist flew out of the purple haze and slammed into the right beast's skull, sending it roaring to the left and careening to the ground. As the portal dissipated, an Ice Thrall charged out of the door to Oblivion and lumbered its way to the downed creature. _

___It struggled in vain to stand up and its roars of terror were heard by Odahviing, who howled as he pulled out of a dive that was late to save me. My Thrall drew near it and raised its fist high towards the Skyrim heavens. Bringing it down with the force of a vengeful god, it struck the head of the downed mammoth. Sinew split and the bone-lappings burst as red blood sprayed on the body of the Ice golem. The beast roared in agony and again, my Thrall brought its fist down. A sickening crunch was heard and the monster ceased to roar, bone fragment, grey matter and blood spurting all over the field and landing on me._

___**"Answer the call to my guidance!"**_

___Catching my breath, I stumbled over to the Conjured thrall with Shadowmere plodding behind me. Going to the bloodied Thrall , I gave it my thanks and sent a small prayer to the Divines, thanking them for aiding me in the fight. Turning to my Thrall, I began to concentrate hard, drawing life energy to the palms of my hands. A purple aura enveloped my fists and ____I waved my hand to dispel the magic and dismiss the frozen familiar from the earth and back into the realm of Oblivion. I watched as I saw the familiar purple orb fly out of my hands and strike my Frost Thrall and the portal to the Daedric realm opened._

___But something went wrong. Deadly wrong_

___My Thrall began to convulse and shake, appendages jerking violently in some macabre dance. With a tremendous crack, the familiar shattered and the ice fragments were swept into the portal. A great wind began to pull me and Shadowmere into the vortex and I struggled violently not to reach the edge of the swirling mass of energy that lead into the plane of Oblivion, home to all Daedra. I called out to Odahviing who began to race towards us, but I could feel the storm growing faster and harsher. Digging my feet in, I unsheathed my sword and stabbed it into the ground, burying the blade halfway into the dirt. _

___For a moment I was stable, then I heard a panicked neigh and I felt a tremendous force slam into my back, knocking me off of my feet and jerking my sword out of the ground. Cursing Sheogorath, I turned to see what had knocked me off my balance. My face met the black fur of a Daedric steed. ____As the mass of purple energy enveloped me, the last sight I saw was Odahviing trying to reach us in time and Shadowmere flailing around berserkly, a hoof descending upon my face. _

___I cursed Sheograth strongly for this. I cursed him STRONGL- CLANG!_

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**TRANSLATIONS!**

**"****Aam...Faal dovahkiin los aan mey**." - Hmm...the Dragonborn is a fool."

******"Jul yah grah ahst pah sul ahrk vulon..."** - "Humans seek battle at every day and night..."

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I promise I'll have the next chapter of _Conduit of Zero _up soon!

Now I'm sure you've all heard this before, but...**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**And please take time to go to my profile and partake in the vote for characters to be written into FoZ.**

**_Now...would you kindly review this story?_  
**


	2. Call of Valor: The Second Response

_Once again, sorry this took so long. I'm only gonna talk for a bit, so bear with me. _

_With Dawnguard coming out for DLC and since I'm stuck in Military School without my ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the School wi-fi disables the site. _

**_DISCLAIMER!_****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru.**

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**Chapter Two  
****Call of Valor: The Second Response**

After a brief struggle with a Daedric hoof in the crux of my helm, I finally managed to pull it off, leaving a slight dent in the shape of a horseshoe in my Daedric helmet. Damn. Throwing a dirty look to Shadowmere from my position on the ground, my mare lowered her head and offered me the reins on her head. Sighing, I pulled myself up, ignoring indignant grunts as I used all of my leverage to help the transition, and gazed around the landing place.

All I could see was a large cloud of dust as far as the eye could see. Looking up, I couldn't make out a sky, just more dust swhirling above my head. This was odd. Turning my head in all directions (at least as far as my helmet would allow), I was found with the same result: dust, dust and more dust.

Retracing my steps, I tried to puzzle out what had brought me here to this strange place. I finished my battle with the mammoths and giants, I was in the middle of banishing my Frost Atronarch back to its home, then Shadowmere and I were sucked into the portal my Atronar-

My blood froze as my brain came to a terrible realization. Weren't Artonarchs aspects of Daedra and when summoned, came to the aid of the summoner from...the Daedric Realm of Oblivion?

This wasn't good. This was not good at all.

Vaulting myself onto Shadowmere's back, I drew my sword and prepared for mounted combat with the otherworldly beings. My ears picked up words being murmurred and I strained my senses to the extreme (trained during my hunting adventures with the Companions) to hear the words. They weren't in any dialect I could recogni- MAGIC!

Cracking the reigns and hefting my sword, Shadowmere neighed and surged forward through the dust cloud, racing towards the source of the magic spell. There was no chance in hell that I was going to let him finish its chant and be slammed by some Oblivion magics.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Professor Colbert Jean was an experienced man in the realm of magics. And though his main expertise (to his everlasting regret) was that of fire magic, he still studied the magics of the other four elements and what little information had been provided about the Void Magic that Founder Brimir performed. Reading every scrap of information in the Library about magic, he was considered, amongst his peers, an expert in magic.

Although, none of his research could explain the constant explosions that one of his students, a noble by the name of Louise Valliere, had constantly created both in class, and whenever leisurly activities required magic to be used.

Mildly coughing from the dust that Louise caused to go sky high, he stepped closer to the cloud and began to chant a small spell that would allow the dust to be swept away to see what lay in the center of the crater that she created. But halfway thorough the chant, he heard a cracking noise and a neigh so shrill, that his students covered their ears instinctively.

Stepping back, with his staff at the ready, Colbert performed a quick spell that allowed him to see the magical strength of any living creature. The results were catastrophic. The level of magical energy was higher than he had ever seen in any human, noble or commoner. But there was something else aside from a higher energy count...something old...something sinister...something that could shake the heavens to its core with a single shout.

The sound of hooves became apparent and a shadow appeared at the edge of the clouds. Igniting a fire spell at the top of his staff in defense, Colbert stood, ready to intercept whatever rode out of the cloud.

Bursting out of the clouds, a warrior, clad in black armor, charged towards him on a steed with the color of the night sky. Red veins throbbed across the strange warrior's armor and sinister horns jutted from the helmet that covered his face. But it was the sword that caught his attention; a sword of the most darkest ore, the ebony sheen of the blade glancing off the sunlight and refracting in an entire spetrum of light.

Colbert's mind raced to identify the strange warrior that Louise had summoned and his mind jumped onto a particular passage from Founder Brimir's personal journal. The passage had been written when he was exploring a mountain ruin, far to the north of the future Albion's location, where it was an eternal winterland of harsh ice and snow:

_"As the door to the ruins opened, a rush of the most foule air blasted out of the enterance. I thought it would end there and my party and I would be able to advance, but there was more sinister results to be had from the hellish mountains._

_Shadows raced out of the cave and took the shape of warriors, wielding blades of the darkest night. Without warning, they attacked my party, striking three of my men, rest their souls, before I could have a chance to react. I engaged them in combat, blasting them with magic powerful enough to rip a mortal man into two pieces. _

_When it seemed to be over, a purple gateway errupted from nowhere and from its depths, a..._thing_...marched out of it. It still continues to disturb my dreams; the horned helm upon its head, the red eyes filled with unquenchable evil, the pulsing veins embedded in its armor from which blood seemed to flow through. But it was the blade the demon weilded; a brutal two handed sword, jagged, edged and enscribed with crimson runes, as if in blood, that was the most terrifying aspect of the beast._

_It laughed in a gutteral voice as in one swing, it slaughtered five of my companions. We rallied and struck back, but its armor was too strong for even the finest bronze sword to penetrate. As my companions lay, dying or wounded, on the ground, I channeled all of my magic into one focused blast. As I released the energy, it immolulated the demon in a holy blaze fire. _

_But it had laughed, and in a guttral voice that will haunt me for the rest of my days, it said:_

_'Though I will cease to be on this plane of existence, my spirit will live on in the halls of Oblivion and return to the world of men, once more. Remember me, magus...as a Daedra Warrior.'_

_As the demon burned to ash, the surviving companions and I patched up the wounded and burned our dead. Vowing never to return to this accursed place never again, I errected a rune over the enterance of the cave, marking it as a dwelling of the most unholy and death._

_And I pray to whatever diety exists and watches over us all, that no one will disturb the ruin and that no Daedra would ever roam the earth again..."_

In an instant, his mind immediately recalled this. Colbert, one of the few that believed this fantastic tale of an already fantastic man, immediately came to the conclusion that this...thing Louise Valliere had summoned, was a demon of the most unholy. A Daedra Warrior once again walked the earth, black and red armor in all. And was charging him, the "Flame Snake". If there was one thing that Brimir was right about Daedra, it was that the entire demonic species was insane.

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Errupting from the cloud, I immediately winced from the harsh...sunlight? I gave a sigh of relief, for from the books I had read in the various libraries of Skyrim, the Realm of Oblivion held no sunlight, only a blood red sky and a smouldering ruin of stone buildings.

My attention immediately returned to the path of my charge. From my narrow eye-holes in my helm, a balding man in a robe held a staff alit with flame, aimed towards me with a burning fury hidden beneath gentle eyes. For a second, my brain wondered why he would aim a staff at me, but then I realized my armor was that of the Daedra, much less, a sword was being held at a position ready to cleave a man's head off his shoulders.

I had no desire to get another bounty on my head, considering the long time that I couldn't enter a civillized town untill I paid a fine or went to jail for a night...or two. Managing to maneuver my sword hand to grab the other half of Shadowmere's reins, I yanked it hard to the right side, causing my steed to snort in protest, but complied with my orders and turned to the right.

Managing to calm her down, I dismounted and made my way to the balding man, clearly a mage. His stance shifted, turning more solid and he shouted at me, aiming the staff at me. What on earth...oh, Talos' Blood. My sword. Damn. I sheathed the sword at my side and continued to walk towards him.

He shouted again, almost to the point of screaming, and continued to wave the staff dangerously. He spoke in a foreign tounge, one that I did not recognize in my entire travels of Skyrim. He had shouted "Va-t'en, Daedric Guerrier, de retour à l'enfer à partir de laquelle vous êtes né!"

Among the mess of words that he had yelled at me, there was only one that I recognized: Daedra. This meant that the otherworldly bastards could walk heretoo. And just when I thought I would never have to be running to the beck and call of the Lords of Oblivion...

Damn it.

So, the poor mage thought I was a Daedra? I would assume the same thing if I was in his position, having appeared out of a dust cloud, riding a black mare and wielding a jagged blade. As I moved my hands to my head to remove my helmet, I felt a sudden distortion in the air, rippling through the space around me. Then...a sudden heat followed by a violent explosion, centered right at my chest, knocking me back and off of my feet.

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Louise was too shocked to be terrified of the red armored _thing_ that charged out of the crater that her latest explosion created. With a sword bigger than her arm poised to strike down Professor Colbert, the only thing that registered in her mind was the fact that she actually summoned something...and said summoned something was about to rend her teacher's head from his shoulders.

But before it was within striking distance of the professor, it grabbed the reins of the black horse it rode and executed a sharp turn to its right, detering the steed from its charge to the teacher. After patting the horse and whispering to it in a rough, but gentle tounge, the armored figure dismounted and walked towards the professor.

Aiming a flaming staff at it, the professor shouted, "Begone, Daedric Warrior, back to Hell from which you were born!"

It paused in mid-stride and stood there for a few moments. Then, looking down as if it only realized it had an oopen blade in its hands, the construct sheathed its serrated blade and continued to walk forward, only having...eyes (?) for the professor in front of him.

Colbert shouted again his chant, almost to the point of hysteria in his voice. "BEGONE, DAEDRIC WARRIOR, BACK TO HELL FROM WHICH YOU WERE BORN!"

The warrior stopped walking and for a few seconds, did nothing. But something in Colbert's voice stirred something in Louise's frozen stupor of shock. On a sudden impulse, brought about by instinct, she drew the wand at her hip, aimed it at the warrior and shouted a -hopefully- simple spell enough for her to cast to protect her teacher.

"Fireball!"

The result was an explosion, knocking the warrior off of its feet and sending it back a few paces. But to her horror, it shook its head and heaved itself up onto its feet. The only evidence that her spell had impacted the thing was a small dent in the "heart" of its armor and scorch marks seared across the black metal.

Now its attention was directly for her, and she instinctively shivered as the visor passed onto her vision. But instead of advancing forward, as it did to the professor, it raised up its hands to the back of the helm, took hold of it and lifted it off of its head.

Shaking sweaty hair out of his face was a human, eyes instinctively reacting to the sunlight as they winced shut for a brief moment. Behind her, she heard the sounds of drawn out sighs as the female members of her class swooned at the warrior's rugged, but attractive countenance.

Black hair tumbled down on both sides of his face, ending at the base of the neck. Hard brown eyes took in the world around him, slightly marred by a triple scar running down the side of his left cheek. A thin layer of sweat had given his face a sheen that was made a near glow by the sun, giving him an etherial radience that no mere human could normally possess, no matter what kind of tools used to alter ones face were used.

The snapping of a twig diverted her attention, and turning around, she saw the Wind Dragon familiar of her classmate, Tabitha, roar and start thrashing in distress. Tabitha tried to calm her dragon, but her soft voice could not be heard over the beating wings, stomping limbs and that threatened the safety of the other students and familiars.

As the dragon roared in agony, Louise heard the sound of footsteps approaching her and she saw her un-contracted familiar calmly walk to the distressed dragon. Students parted like water does to a ship and even Colbert made no move against him, now no longer (consciously) a threat. As he approached, Tabitha's dragon began to thrash even wilder than before, causing the students to step back in a wide radius with the dragon and the human warrior in the center.

In a soft voice that no one, save Louise could hear, he spoke in a harsh and rough tongue that was incomprehensible to her. The dragon's eyes widened in shock and surprise, but as the warrior's lips moved, the dragon seemed to calm down, stopping the beat of its wings, and the flailing of her wings. When she stopped completely, she allowed the warrior to advance to her completely and rub the side of her head, nuzzeling against a blood-red armored gauntlet in the fashion of a mewling kitten.

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**Ok! Here's where I'm going to cut off f****or now. **

**Sorry for not answering any questions now, but I have to go to sleep because of military curfew. **

**Please review!**


	3. Call of Valor: The Third Response

_With Dawnguard coming out for DLC and since I'm stuck in Military School without my ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the School wi-fi disables the site. _

_I've taken the most recent constructive critisism into effect and as of now, I'm going to experiment lessening the internal monolouge and increase the dialouge. Thanks for the advice,_ **Reality and Fiction**_and_ **Laconeko**. _But I do believe it's too late to change things already set in motion, but I will take advice into account for both this story and **Conduit of Zero**. Please comment on the change in writing._

**_*SPOILER ALERT*_**

_For those who will be worried that the Guchie fight will be altered because of Dov's appearance, don't wory! THey're all going to assume he's a mercenary or stage hand hired to be Louise's familiar, with the exception of Colbert (who is the only one in the academy who believes in the Daedra)...yes, yes, they're all idiots, aren't they?_

_As for the concern about Odahviing being called in this world...let's just say that I have something **GLORIOUS! **planned for that. _

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS upon my eyes!**_

**_DISCLAIMER!_****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru.**

* * *

**Chapter Three  
****Call of Valor: The Third Response**

My head still smarted from the strange magic that had knocked me off of my feet and despite the ringing that I had in my ears, my armor and body still seemed to be in one piece. Good.

The poor dragon that I was currently patting had smelled the blood on my armor and had "flown" into a panic. Normally, the Dragon Tounge was only used for the airborne reptiles of Skyrim, but I had hoped that with my talks with Odahviing and lessons with Paarthurnax in the high mountains of High Hrothgar, my skill in the Dragon language was sufficient enough to calm down a rampaging and scared dragon.

The language barrier was no issue, suprisingly enough. The Archmagus of Winterhold within me assumed that the dragons in this world had a common ancestor with those of Skyrim, allowing me to be able to have a dialouge with her. Though I am sure she had only a remote idea what I had said, she still instinctively managed to understand what I said:

_Not an enemy...Only to those who are evil...Your soul is as pure as fresh snowfall in a winter night...I am your friend..._

Digressing from that, the view that greeted me when I took off my helmet was shocking to say the least. In the lands of Skyrim, no field of open grass should be this level. And there were always myriad pieces of rock and debris of a campfire lying around. But what got me was the eunormous stone castle with four towers stretching higher into the sky than the tallest peak of Ulfric Stormcloak's castle. Now mind you, I only visited his city to investigate the murder. I still was undecided about the civil war.

Aside from the castle, there was one more thing that I found odd, little far from disturbing, about my current location. There was a group of young boys and girls, barely near the age of reason, dressed in the most revealing clothes I've seen since...ever. But beside each child, an animal either was growling at me or hiding behind the legs of their apparent owner. There were some animals that I could recognize: a cat, a dog, a fro- _was that a floating eyeball?_

There was but one thing I could discern from this madness: I was in no land in Skyrim that I could recognize.

Removing my hand from the blue dragon's face, much to her protest, I turned my vision to the person that had blasted me with the strange magic that had warpped the air around me. Calmly walking up to the girl, the only girl without an animal beside her legs, I noted, I knelt down and met her gaze that had constantly been following my path.

"Little girl," I said, attempting my most..._disciplinary_ voice as possible, "Magic is a dangerous skill. Only when you have the most noble intention of killing someone should you use a magic as powerful as that."

Initial response to my attempt to communicate? A string of words in a foreign language, small hands grasping the side of my face, and a kiss. A kiss from a girl, who had the hair color of an unusual hue, looked only a little shorter than the squatting Falmar and looked as mature as a villiage child.

Slightly recoiling, I was about to deliver a prompt retort before I felt magica building up inside of me. A boiling sensation concentrated itself on my left hand and I yanked my gauntlet off to see what was happening. I briefly gritted my teeth as I saw, to my horrific curiosity, magical runes searing themselves into my skin before flaring brightly, then fading away, leaving naught but lines, twisting and spelling out characters of a foreign magic.

With a tingling sensation in my hand, I experimentally flexed it, causing the joints to crack and startle the pink haired girl out of her shocked state. The balding magus, once seeing that I was a human, albeit a well armed human, approached me cautiously, though he had ceased his magica output on his fiery staff.

"Well, Miss Vallière," he cautiously said, and I snapped my head upwards at the sound of my home tounge. "It seems that despite your..._unusual_ summoning, you have successfully contracted a familiar on your first try."

"B-but, professor!" the girl, Vallière, stammered. "I have never heard of summoning a human as a familiar!"

A sinking feeling made itself present in my chest as I began to connect metaphorical dots with the words coming out of the strangers' mouths.

"Nevertheless, you are sacredly bound to have him as your duitiful familiar. It would be sacrilige to otherwise assume so."

I realized that I was about to enter into another mad adventure, being dropped onto a path by forces beyond mortal comprehension and understanding' a mere piece in a game about to unfold upon this strange land I was in.

"Now listen here, sir," the mage said, addressing me with a caustic tone. "I don't know what your intentions are and neither do I know how you have Daedric weaponry and armor on your person. But, I will let these slide, for you are now the familiar of Louise Vallière. If you harm her in any way, shape or form, I will show you what will happen when the saftey of my students are threatened."

In summation: the Divines were _screwing _with my destiny. **AGAIN**...Dammit.

"Um...sir?"

Dammit.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Many hours later after my arrival in this land, my "master" began to initiate an interrogation within the walls of her bedroom. She seemed in a bad mood when she marched up to the one place she could call a sanctuary from outside interference. Especially when said interference was the contempt and mockery of her peers, except for a blue haired girl who kept her unnerving gaze at me.

The other students had mocked her, calling her a fraud for "hiring a mercenary commoner to act as her familiar". Although, it was also said that the "commoner mercenary" must have had experience with dragons (snide comments were heard about stable duty and cleaning up filth, but those were immediately shut up as I sent them a glare that could kill) as he was able to calm down Tabitha's Wind Dragon when she had a "leave of her senses".

Of course, the interogation was delayed even further when, after the students _flew_ away back to the castle, the balding mage introduced himself as Colbert and told me to show him my hand. I had no intention of angering him, for after a brief Aura Whisper, I saw an immense power inside of him, writhing and coiling inside of his body, repressed by a strong layer of emotion.

"Familiar! Are you listening to me at all?"

I repressed the urge to sigh and diverted my thoughts to the girl sitting on her bed, gazing me with an irate look.

"Terribly sorry, Miss," I said, trying my hardest to keep the sarcasm in my voice. "My mind was elsewhere."

Drawing herself haughtily, she exclaimed, "Familiars must always keep their undivided attention to their masters, and they must also address their masters by their title of authority!"

Staying my hand (for the time being), I replied, "You were saying, master?"

"What is your name?" she asked simply, but the words she said had a profound impact on my mind.

I could not remember my name. I could not even remember anything before my capture at the hands of Imperials at the border of Skyrim. Ralof said I had been bludgeoned behind the head when he saw me stumble out of the woods, and that probably contracted a severe memory loss.

At Hadvar's inquiery as to who I was, I simply told him that I had lost my memory in the ambush. That female bitch of a captain designated me as a "renegade", so I was subsequently labled as "Renegade" on the Imperial lists. Even though I was Imperial myself, I often joined in on the Nordic jokes about Imperials and "their damned lists".

But after discovering my destiny as the Dragonborn, I created an alias for myself, using the Dragon Tounge and my birthright of destiny.

"My name," I carefully said, "Is Dove Ahkiin, Master." I took tare to accent the "e" at the end of my first "name", hoping that no one would discover my dragon heritage.

"As you are my familiar," she proclaimed haughtily, ignoring my name, "You must obey each and all of my commands! Failure to do so will result in punishment appropriate to the gravity of the offense."

I shoved the imaginary laughter of Cicero out of my head. Hard. I gritted out, "Very well. What tasks would you have me do, master?"

My prayers that I would have a task to fight something (to blow off steam) were denyed as my master began to disrobe herself in front of me. "You may clean these!" she said as she threw a white shirt, landing onto my face. As more objects of clothing were thrown my way, I was thankful to the Divines for shielding me from the sight of a girl (who claimed to be of sixteen years of age) with the body of a twelve year old, undress in front of me.

Removing the shirt from my eyes when a long period of seconds elapsed since a cease fire was made, the girl was in the process of slipping on a night gown muttering to herself. "I can't believe that I got a commoner as a familiar! Why such a simple looking thing? I wanted a griffin, or a dragon, or something powerful and majestic like that. Why a commoner?" she bemoaned, dismissing me as both a male and that of the human race. Well, I was Imperial of the human race, to be acurate, but...really?

"You know," I commented to her dryly, "In my homeland after one person introduces themselves, typically the other person does as well, Master." I mean, it was common curtosy, although I had a mental instinct when it came to names. I would always know the name of the person I was talking to, despite having never met them in my life! Must be a perk as the Dragonborn and it didn't work here.

"I am Louise Francoise Lu Blanc de La Valliere, a noble, and I won't be addressed in such a tone by a commoner," the newly introduced Louise said in a huff. "Now, take those and the rest of the laundry and get to work. If you come back before they're clean you'll be forced to sleep outside for the night."

"From your actions I can tell that you are...enraged at the prospect of having a human familiar," I responded, in the same tone of voice as earlier despite her chastisement. "I take it from your statements that human summons are unusual in whatever ritual it was you performed that brought me here?"

"Why are you presuming to talk to me when I have already given you an order, familiar?" Louise demanded of me, her hands on her hips and nose in the air once more, despite her sitting position on her bed. "It is your duty as a familiar to obey! Now hurry up, or there will be no food for a week for you!"

I chuckled despite myself. "Very well, Master. Is there anymore that require washing?" The apparent amusement that her orders drew from me seemed to irritate her, but she simply waved a hand towards a corner with a small laundry basket. "Will you be going to sleep while I take of these?"

"Yes," she said, noticing my familiar way of speaking to her and not seeming to like it but choosing not to comment on it. "I shall expect you to have my outfit prepared for me in the morning."

"At what time should I wake you?" I asked her, gathering together her discarded clothes.

She took a second to consider this before finally settling on an appropriate time, "Dawn. Wake me at dawn, familiar."

"When this task is completed, is it acceptable that I familiarize myself with the castle?" I paused at the doorway, waiting for a response.

When it came to directions, I was as knowledgable with the land around me as Aela with the beer stock in the basement. But despite my intuition, I had to visit the area at least once in order to have it imprinted permanently into my mind, ere I be as lost as a Blade in a floral market (Delphine hated flowers, dismissing them as "useless, girly...THINGS!")

"Hmm. It will be helpful if you know the way around if I have any errands for you. Very well," she deigned to respond to me as she crawled into her bed and settled herself beneath the blankets.

"And one more thing before you sleep, Master," I continued. "Where is it I shall be sleeping?"

Despite the rumors that had circulated around Skyrim about my boundless strength that required no sleep, I was still a mortal. I could get tired and stamina potions were only a temporary regain in energy. Besides, I would always feel refreshed after a good sleep. My killing rate always would increase with such activities. That was why I cured myself of Lycanthropy and that Aela and Farkas would never benefit from the perks of a good night sleep.

Without another word she waved her hand to a spot against the wall a few feet from the bed that was covered in straw. I couldn't contain the growl the whole situation had been drawing from me, and my mental rage fummed through my mind as I shut the door behind me, cursing Sheograth and wondering what on earth I did to make him hate me.

* * *

**Ok! Here's where I'm going to cut off f****or now. **

**Sorry for not answering any questions now, but I have to go to sleep because of military curfew. **

**I've based this dialouge sequence off of the similar scene from _The Hill of Swords_ in order to "add more dialouge". But seriously, who doesn't draw inspiration from this work of art?**

**Please review!**


	4. Call of Valor: The Fourth Response

_With Dawnguard coming out for DLC and since I'm stuck in Military School without my ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the School wi-fi disables the site. _

_I've taken the most recent constructive criticism into effect and as of now, I'm going to experiment lessening the internal monolouge and increase the dialogue. Thanks for the advice,_ **Reality and Fiction **_and_ **Laconeko**. _But I do believe it's too late to change things already set in motion, but I will take advice into account for both this story and **Conduit of Zero**. Please comment on the change in writing._

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes! **_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

**_DISCLAIMER! _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru.**

* * *

**Chapter Four  
****Call of Valor: The Fourth Response**

Angrily, I made my way down, following from memory the path we had taken up to the tower dormitories earlier in reverse. Ordering an Imperial to do the laundry, speaking to them in such a disrespectful fashion, and even expecting one to sleep on a pile of straw like a dog. I was used to doing the most rediculous tasks of the townsfolk, but at least they spoke with respect and reverence (perhaps the lack of reverence is because of my witheld identity, most likely)! But this child that I was apparently "a familiar" to was addressing me like the Bitch-Captain (Divines, I was glad to slash her throat open) shouting at Hadvar. No respect whatsoever...

I shuddered at the thought of my friends and allies in this situation. Lydia would...now that I think about it, she would kill Louise and try to find a way back to Skyrim and subsequently, back to me (her loyalty, while admirable, was disturbing at sometimes). Aela, Farkas or Vilkas would turn into were-wolves eat everyone in the school. Poor Brelyna would acidentally summon Frost Thralls, no- Demora, out of nervousness that would wreak havoc upon the property. I gave a melancholy sigh at the thought of them...oh, how I missed my companions and friends so dea-

"You commoner! Are you listening?"

Irritated at having my thoughts of home interupted, I turned to the source of the voice. A young man with a shirt that revealed most of his chest was standing near a girl wrapped around a brown cloak and holding a tray of some sort of food. By the look of indignition on his face, it appeared as if he was trying to get my attention. And if I were to guess further, it would appear that he was trying to charm the girl into his good graces ( and by good graces, I mean into his pants).

"You are the familiar that Louise summoned, are you not?" he asked me, one hand on his hip and a rose in the other. Great. Another idiot romantic that was going to die in the immediate future when he sought the "glory and honnor" that came with battle.

"It would appear so," I said. He was one of Louise's worst tormentors on the field earlier today, and while I had no loyalty to Louise (save for the "contract", but when did that really matter?), I immensely disliked people who threw their weight around. People like that had nasty habits of "disappearing" after, coincidentally, a Black Ritual was performed that I would Listen to.

He snorted distainfully, flipping his head back and striking a pose for the girl. "Hmph. It must be an utter shame to have someone like you as a familiar."

I repressed the urge to strike him down with the Mace of Molag Bal in the future.

"It would seem," he said, putting an air of confidence, most likely to charm the young girl next to him, "That the familiar summoned reflects the skill of the mage, and you, being a hired mercenary means that Lou-"

"Then a mole, a symbol of the earth, represents how much horse dung you're full of?" I retorted calmly, all the while walking away from the poser.

Ignoring the indignant shouts and the small giggle behind me, I set about finding a manservant to help me with the laundry and explain the nature of the land I was currently inhabiting. Due to Louise's anger, Colbert's cautiousness and the student body's flippancy, I had no knowledge about the world, save for the fact that it had a large number of magi with heads, so full of hot air, that they would be able to fly all the way to the Throat of the World.

Despite taking off the Daedric armor and donning a simple tunic and breeches, I had no desire to wake up the inhabitants of the castle and cause an incident. Sneaking seemed like my best bet, although, if I was seen, it would be awkward to explain why I was slinking in the hallways at night with a basketfull of girls'...um...loins? I honestly don't know...

The solution to my problems was presented to me in the form of a young lady, dressed in the strangest uniform of black and white I had ever seen. She was humming to herself while cleaning a statue of someone with...hmmm...a hand-broom with feathers on the end instead of straw? Wishing to be rid of my current miscellaneous "quest", I walked up behind the girl and, setting down the basket, I tapped her on her shoulder.

Her intial scream of panic and surprise was quite loud in the stillness of the evening. Dammit, I forgot I was sneaking. Why does it never work when I want it to and work when it really wasn't necessary? Somewhere, Cicero was laughing at me...either that, or it was the ringing in my ears. Ouch.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Currently, Siesta's mind was in a state of fear and terror. Tonight was finnaly the night when she was going to be carried off by some noble and she would be forced to allow him to have his way with her. But why now? Why now when her mind had been immersed in all of the literature that suggested the sort of things that would occur when this situation would happen?

How was he going to do it? Was he going to use the rope, the riding crop and the broom handle? What about the chains, the candles and the kitchen knife, oh, it was pure torture for her mind to sort through these things! Siesta knew that she should have listened to her father's stories about nobles and how they beat the staff, treated them like playth-

All thoughts were immediately shoved aside when she was spun on her feet, a hand clamped over her mouth, and the face of her unknown assailant became apparent in her vision.

"I'm sorry for startling you, Miss, but I would really hate for you to lose such a pretty voice with all that screaming."

His voice was that of the protagonists of her romance novels, the dashing princes and brutal barbarian chieftans, combined into a single sentence. It carried a regal, yet rough, masculine tone that made her spine shiver with unconscious fear and, unabashedly, excitement.

But it was his face and body that stood out in her mind's priority. Though his features were slightly scarred and looked as if chiseled by a barbarian artist, the man in front of her was literally the masculine epiphimy of Siesta's wildest dreams. His brown eyes, the long black hair, the tripple scar across his left cheek and the fact that his body was the equivilent of a barbarian warrior and/or berserker sent an overload of senses to the poor maid's mind.

"Miss? Are you alright?"

Snapping herself out of her fantasies, Siesta realized that, long ago, she had stopped screaming and that the man in front of her, dressed in a countryside tunic, had removed his hand from her mouth and was looking at her in concern. Genuine concern. From a NOBLE. The world was coming to an end.

"Ah...ah...yes, my lord?" she managed to squeak out, curtsying slightly. It never hurt to be kind to nobles.

He gave a sardonic smirk. "If you think that I'm one of those stuck-up brats, Miss," he said, a faint trace of humor in his voice, "Then I'm afraid that you have made a small mistake in judging my character. I am just as..._common_ as you are.

"Now, could you direct me to the nearest bucket? And if you don't mind, I have some some questions to ask you...

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

The young girl, who had introduced herself as Siesta, was only too happy to aid me in my task of washing laundry. My skills at Speech had been employed in many places in Skyrim, often leading me either into fights, starting them, or trying (and more often than not, failing) to sort things out peacefully. I had no intention to threaten the girl to help me with my laundry, so I merely used some of my more...persuasive elements of speaking in order to make her feel more comfortable around me.

Currently, I was hunched over a washtub, scrubbing the dirt out of Louise's cloaks and questioning Siesta about the land, called Tristain, that I was in. And as we went through the laundry and more information was gleaned, I found myself irritated at the way this land's society worked.

"So the ruling class is based upon those who can use magic?"

That was so backwards. If said system was employed in Skyrim, it would mean that I, Archmage of the College, would be ruler of the land, and that the College was a place to train future rulers. The Court Wizards would have fealty to me and manage the land surrounding the major cities and the Jarls would serve as their stewards. In addition, the various criminal mages and vampires would be venerated as of noble blood and would have the liberty to do whatever they wished to the populous of Skyrim.

The sheer idiocy of this land's ruling system made my head hurt.

And when my head hurt...things usually tended to get smashed into hulks of twisted metal and ruined flesh.

"So, are you a servant for a noble, Dové?"

Jerking myself out of satisfyingly bloody and violent thoughts, I managed to form a reply to the maidservant beside me, "You could say that."

"So are you," she said, "The human warrior that was summoned by Miss Valliere this afternoon?"

"Correct. I am indeed the familiar she summoned."

After pronouncing the cloak I was washing sufficiently clean, I handed it to Siesta, who would then hang the laundry to dry on a line next to a small fire. I guess that to completely finish this task, I would have to come back when the clothes were dry. Good. I could catch a few hours of sleep.

"If you come back before dawn, they should be dry by then!" Siesta said cheerfully, hanging up the last article of clothing on the line.

Nodding slightly, I made my way back through the exit, the route back to Louise's room permanently etched into my internal map. But before I went...

"Siesta."

The girl stumbled at my sudden mention of her name. Turning to face me, she managed to get out, "Y-yes, Dové?"

I gave a small smile and gave the girl a bow, accompanied by a small gesture with my arm. "Thank you for your services, Miss Siesta. It was pleasent to meet you and do hope we meet again."

The sound of a body jumping up and down in leather shoes and the shriek of "kyaaa!" was not lost upon my ears as I exited the laundry room.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

After carefully making my way throughout the layout of the castle, I made my way back to Louise's room. Carefully, I opened the door, wincing at every squeak the hinges made, regardless of how small it was. After making sure that I could sneak through the smallest crevice the door opened to accomadate my body, I crouched and slowly moved inside of the room. I sighed, remembering my time as a vampire- not one of the Vampire Lords, mind you, but one of the run-of-the-mill fangers. I hated feeding off of innocent bystanders and the feeling slightly resurfaced as I edged towards the pathetic pile of straw that served as my bed.

A disciplined Nord could time the intervals of his sleeping hours, so I made sure I woke up at an hour that I could retrieve the brat's laundry and wake her up. Grabbing a tunic from my pack, I layed back on the floor and my eyes moved towards that of the two moons in the bright night sky. A twisted feeling manifested in my chest. I had vehemenently hated any Daedra that walked the earth, senselessly killing people, but I found myself actually _missing_ the prescense of the realm of Oblivion and the Lords that I held myself sovreign to.

With a repressed sigh, I closed my eyes and lost myself in the realm of Vaermina, her world of dreams taking me back to the familiar lands of Skyrim...

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_Louise was still fuming as she drifted off into sleep. She had summoned a human for her familiar. A human warrior, she had to give him that, but her classmates had the audacity of calling him a mercenary! Their jests and taunts hurt her deeply, but she was heartened when her familiar shot Malicorne a look that could kill and followed her orders. Maybe she could find some function for him as a bodyguard or man servan-_

**_You have no idea of the power he wields, child..._**

_Louise became dimly aware of another person...no. No person could ever possess such an ancient aura as this...thing did.._

**_Your ignorance is the one thing that saves you from the eternal nightmare and my wrath, child..._**

_A woman then rose out of the mist that shrouded the dreams of the young magus. She had no solid form, save but an outline of a dignified woman in heavy robes and a staff in one hand._

**_The man that you summoned into this land is far away from his homeland where I can make myself known, but dreams are universal and transcend all planes of existance..._**

_Louise thought that this was another one of her wild dreams, caused by the legends and epics of old heroes in the days of Brimir, and that this woman was another legend._

**_Your Brimir would be no match for me...and even at the peak of his powers, he cannot defeat the mortal that I hold an attatchment too...b_****_ut you still doubt...you doubt that the man brought before you can be of any good use..._**

_She suddenly became afraid. Afriad of the unknown prescense in her mind, in her dreams, inside her head...but it was just a dream, right? RIGHT?_

**_Perhaps it would be better if I showed you the truth...and maybe you would doubt no more..._**

_The mist parted and Louise lurched forward as she was pulled into the opening the mist had created. _

_Blinking the spots out of her eyes, she found herself upon a wooden cart, lurching and swaying as it made its way through the forest wood. A dull throb became apparent on her head, but when she tried to rub it, she found that her hands were bound together, and that there were three other men with her on the cart, similarly bound, save one man, in ornate blue robes, with a gag around his mouth._

_"Looks like you walked right into that Imperial ambush, friend."_

_The blond man in front of her, noticing she was awake, greeted her with a sardonic smile. As she looked around, she saw that they were in a convoy of...prisoners heading down a worn path to places unknown to them. Returning her gaze to the men in the cart, she saw that the one in rags began to panic as he recognized the man next to her...Ulfric something..._

_As the sentry in red driving the cart shouted at them to shut up, Louise saw the walls of the city that the convoy was entering. The blonde man, Ralof, began to reminesce about the city they were in, but she took note of the raggedy man's prayers to gods unknown to her. The cart stopped and after Ralof made a comment about "the end of the line", she found that her body moved of its own volition and marched stiffly to the commanding officer._

_She saw in horror, that as the man in rags tried to run away from his executioners, the captain ordered her archers to shoot the man in the back. But before she could process what she had seen, the man next to the captain asked her to come forward. Marching to him, he asked her who she was and the words that came out of her mouth were, not in her voice, but that of her familiar's._

_Uncertain, Hadvar, the man, tried to reason with his superior, but she decided to put Louise on the chopping block anyway. Hadvar actually looked sorry as they led Louise to the executioner's block next to dozens of warriors. An important looking General marched up to the man next to her, Ulfric, and began to condem him for crimes of revolt and heresy._

_One prisoner, bravely marching to his death, met his maker as the executioner slashed the axe in a bloody arc, seperating his head from his body, still spasming in its death throes. Louise heard her being called forward and though her impulses told her to run away and risk the wrath of the archers, but her legs moved on their own, and at her executioner, she kneeled down at the chopping block, wondering if the last thing she would see was the blade of her killer and the roar of a beast..._

_Wait. Where was tha- A shadow appeared in the sky and as the executioner lifted his axe, a monstrous behemoth landed from the heavens on the watchtower and, with a furious shout, ignited the heavens with a rain of fire and a voice of ancient evil. In the chaos, she managed to break away from her captors and run with Ralof to the tower._

_There was blood and death everywhere. The dragon had begun the slaughter and the human soldiers began to shoot arrows in retaliation and mages hurled fire towards the beast, but it laughed at their futile efforts. And with three words in a malign and ancient language, it lit the world on fire, sending a wall of flame hurtling towards the defenders of the lost city._

_At the crossroads, she went with Ralof as they plunged into the depths of the castle, fighting off the human forces that had tried to kill them earlier. As one man brought a sword down to her body, her hands moved of her own accord, snatching the sword from Ralof's battle-brother and smashed the blade out of the way. She lept forward, and grabbing her attacker, she gave a scream of horror, but she heard a roar of triumph as she, no, her familiar, claimed his first kill, plunging the cold iron into the entrails of his captor and dragging his struggling body across three feet of bloody metal._

_Please! she cried to the speaker in her head, watching the carnage unfold as they fought through the dungeons, filled with unspeakable horrors and twisted corpses, forever contorted in agony. Please stop! _

_There was no response from the mysterious woman and she cried out in horror at the monstrous spider that she saw rapidly approaching her. As it beared onto her, Ralof cried and charged the beast, but it knocked him off his feet, stunning him. Returning to its previous victiim, it reared on its hind legs and began the descent onto its prey._

_Her hands moved and she drew a bow and, with incredible agility, nocked an arrow, looted from the dead guards, into position. As venemous fangs were about to sink themselves into the body she was inhabiting, her hands released the string, giving off a disonant _twang_ , and the projectile flew through the air and struck the behemoth between its four eyes, causing it to shriek in agony and fall to the cold floor, dead, but twitching in its death throes._

_Louise gave a small shriek of her own and her vision tunneled into black as she felt a pair of hands shaking her shoulder..._

_And so Louise dreamed of the land of old...where monsters battled men and the mead flowed thick._

* * *

**Ok! Here's where I'm going to cut off f****or now. **

**Sorry for not answering any questions now, but I have to go to sleep because of military curfew. **

**Please review!**


	5. Call of Valor: The Fifth Response

_With Dawnguard coming out for DLC and since I'm stuck in Military School without my ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the School wi-fi disables the site. _

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes! **_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (I'm sorry I didn't get these out earlier)**_

Name: Dovahkiinn (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (23), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (45)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (70)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (67), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set, Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED. Curbstomping FTW)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

Adressing the Fans-

**narutofan020: **Let's just say that the Dragonborn has something that I call "Mara's Blessing" (known as the h**em in manga/anime)...and he sees it as a REALLY BAD THING.

**SlyTrinity:** I have something planned for Odahviing..._"What do you know about the Weeping Angels?"_

**drake202: **Dreams are easily brushed aside, but they have a habbit of haunting those who doubt...until they believe...and then Vaermina shows them how epic the person is.

**NIX'S WARDEN:** The Daedric Lords will most certainly be involved. And though it is difficult for their kind to manifest in Halkegenia, it still is possible. Now, let's see how many Conjuration Potions/Ingredients (STEROIDS!) our Dragonborn has..."Louise, is there a dark, secluded forest nearby?"

Stats are above.

**Spartan S-999:** Look up bucketing on Youtube, keywords "skyrim bucketing".

**P.S. I still continue to write _Conduit of Zero. It's just that my muse is entirely focused on churning out chapters for this fic._**

**_P.P.S. I know this chapter is lengthy, but I felt it necessary to do it in order to set up the Obligatory Guchie Fight for the next chapter._**

**_DISCLAIMER! _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru.**

* * *

**Chapter Five  
****Call of Valor: The Fifth Response**

Instantly alert, my eyes snapped open, taking me from Vaermina's dream-realm and into the waking world. Damn. I was reliving my battle with Alduin atop the Throat of the World. Now, THAT was one hell of a fight that would be sung in the halls of castles and in the dimly lit taverns for eons to come.

Rising from the floor and stretching out my limbs, I caught a glimpse of the sky outside Louise's window. Dawn was approaching, though there was still blue darkness in the sky and clouds floating lazily, carefree of all worldly troubles...whenever I was on a lengthy quest, I would contemplate the beauty of Skyrim's landscape, and for a brief moment, I would wonder what it would be like to have no quests to accomplish and simply take in the bountaeous land of the Nor-

"Stop..."

My eyes darted to the small figure on the rediculously lavish bed. Why anyone would want curtains on either side of them while sleeping was beyond me. It seemed like a needless luxury, but I would only purchase and errect them if they could keep out those pesky vampires, with a sufficient enough lockpicking skill, out of my house and away from my throat.

Louise seemed to be having some sort of dream. And judging by the dialouge, it seemed to be either a mildy bad dream, or...damn you, Vaermina, I have no interest in being married! So stop showing me those dreams of what "services" that Lydia could perfor-

"Please...stop..."

The girl began to thrash in her bed, moaning and wrinkling her sheets. In that instant, I recognized a nightmare, one that was obviously causing her deep distress and duress in her sleep. This was serious. In the books in my Winterhold archive, I had read reports of mages who descended into madness whilst having intense dreams. Now, the last thing I needed was an insane "master", so with a few strides to the side of her bed, I grabbed her shoulder and shook.

"Louise..." I said, shaking her shoulder again, much more fiercely.

The only response was another groan and an increase in her breathing.

"Louise. Wake up."

Not good.

"LOUISE!"

WIth a strangled scream, the girl woke up, clutching her chest as she breathed Akatosh's good air. Her...pink (?) hair was in disarray and her bright-purple eyes were dilated and frenzied. Please don't be insane, please don't be insane, please don't be insane, Oh, Merciful Divines, please don't be insane...

Her gaze turned to the hand on her shoulder and her eyes followed the arm attached to it until her purple eyes met my brown ones. She gave a small yelp and scurried away from me, inching her way across the bed until she had no more space to escape into. It took a few minutes, but Louise managed to regain control of her breathing and her eyes returned to their normal state.

"Familiar?" she asked of me, looking unsure at my face and body.

"You were having a nightmare, Master," I explained briefly. "So I took the liberty of waking you up, lest you succumb to insanity."

"I-" she began, but cut herself off, looking confused and distraught. "...thank you, familiar. You did a good service to me..." she trailed off weakly.

"You're welcome," I said, giving her a small smile, before noticing her night-dress and turning my gaze to the side, my mouth contorting into an awkward frown. "Erm...while I hate to be so forthcoming, you had...sweated in your nightmare-sleep, so I !" I blurted out.

For a second, Louise looked confused, but she looked down and saw that her night-dress, drenched in sweat from her nightmare, was almost transparent enough for her to be naked. She flushed red, instincively pulled the covers to hide herself and threw me a dirty glare that I could feel boring into my chest.

Escape, escape, escape, escape...

"I know I woke you up early, Master," I managed to get out, "And I was not able to fetch your laundry because I had to wake you...so if you don't mind," I nervously said, inching towards the door, "I'll go and...retrieve...fetch..."

"GO!" she screamed.

Taking one brief look at her and grimly nodding, I set off, as fast as I could, to retrieve her clothes and avoid anymore undue and awekward moments.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

After briefly opening the door, tossing her clothes in and slamming it shut, I waited for my Master to finish her changing, anxiously tapping a boot on the tiled floors. I myself had grabbed a tunic of my own from my inventory, and I changed into that in the privacy of the dark corners of the castle. I propped myself up against the wall next to her door and began a mental run-through of the threat assessment in this land.

I would need to fight against a mage to truly gauge the difference between theirs and that of Tamriel. It would be also logical to assume that there would be standard foot soldiers as well, but there may have been a difference in their equipment and mine. I had no idea what to expect, so I had to be on my guard, sleeping with one eye open, ears peeled and senses sharp.

I sensed a presence approaching me from the hall and, repressing the urge to draw the Daedric blade poinarded on my back in a baldric, I turned to greet the visitor.

"Well, well," my approacher said, taking slow steps towards me. "Well, if it isn't the familiar commoner that Louise 'summoned'." She raised one hand to her mouth, mockingly covering up the smirk that she was wearing. "Tell me, how much gold is she paying you for this ruse? You're just some mercenary she snuck in to fool everyone when she failed her spell, aren't you?" She let loose another set of mocking laughter.

I gave her a look over and I mentally shot myself in the knee, disturbed at what I saw. Her red hair was obviously well-cared for as it trailed off of her shoulders and her skin was as rich as a roasted Sweet Roll. But what had unnerved me was the large amount of...bust...that was spilling from her shirt, obviously buttoned with the intention of attracting stares and sore necks from doubling-back (in summation, barely buttoned). Great. Another Hroki with the attitude of an arrogant priss because of her body.

Sheogorath was, undoubtably, screwing with me as I unconsciously made a mental connection between the girl in front of me, the Sweet Roll that my companions and I loved to eat on breaks between quests and a particular organ that Mara seemed to endorse.

I swear to the Divines, the Daedra and Mara are working, consorting and plotting together to tie me to a bed.

The door opened and my master stomped out grumpily, taking no heed of the redhead and marching towards the stairs. I followed her, ignoring the calls from the girl behind me as I ran towards Louise.

"In the future," she said, startling me with her suddeness as I tired to stop my run. "you will set out all of my outfit, even the undergarments. I have no specific tastes, and if the time comes for me to wear more appropriate ones I shall choose them myself, seeing as a commoner would have no knowledge of what is appropriate."

I repressed the violent urge to draw Wabbajack.

"Also," she added as we walked down the stairs, undoubtably, to the castle's dining hall that I saw in my explorations, "From now on, you must help me get dressed and you cannot leave the room until I am ready."

My right eye twitched at this information. "Master," I said dryly, trying to be as diplomatic as possible, "In my homeland, it is considered improper for a female to change next to a male. The same applies in reverse."

"You are not a male!" she declared hotly, turning to glare at me. Oh really? Then explain why I have a beard and a - "You are a familiar. It is no more inappropriate for a familiar to be around me while changing then it would be for a dog."

My left eye twitched in symphony with my right as we made our way down to the dining hall.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

I looked at my serving of thin broth and moldy bread. Then I looked at the plates of the other noble brats, filled with fruit, pastries and other assorted things that I would never see in Skyrim, except on the Emperor's plate himself. My stomach had protested, but while Louise went to get her food, I grabbed a piece of bread out of my "void inventory", acessable by the pouch (and the pack in Louise's room) opposide my sword, and a stamina potion and health potion. All three managed to satisfy my Imperial stomach, for the time being.

I was drinking a flask of water when she returned, her plate laden with the food of a rich noble. Setting herself down, she began to say a prayer to her diety that their society whorshiped. "_Our Great Founder Brimir and Her Highness, we thank you for this small meal..." _she prayed and I waited for her to finish and begin to dig into her food when I asked a serious question.

"Who in Talos' name is Brimir?"

Louise looked at me, dropping her fork and knife, horrified that I would ever ask such a thing. Even some of the other students near us gasped and turned their heads towards me.

"H-h-h-h-h-how can you not know who B-B-B-Brimir is?" she shrieked.

"Let's pretend, Master," I began sardonically, "That I come from a land far away from yours and that I have no idea about how your society works, save that they put mages in power." She winced slightly at the logic of his words.

"Brimir was the Founder of Halkgenia after our race was exiled from the Holy Land by the Elves." she explained, grumbling slightly.

Nodding, I took this in, but my mind raced at the mention of "elves". It seemed that the Mer were here too. While most humans would avoid contact with elves, I had a habbit of making great friends with at least one of every mer. Berelyna, fellow student and now renown mage, was one prime example of friendship between species...although she had dropped suggestions about wanting to be more...AND SHE STILL DID. Talos preserve us, she was persistent.

Shoving elves aside, my mind returned to what Louise was saying. "He used the Lost Element of Void, and established the current system of magic. It is said that the royal families of Tristain, Albion and Gallia are descended from him. Does that answer your question?"

"Sufficiently, master." I returned with a nod of my head.

Looking at my food, again, I decided that the broth would be edible and would, hopefully, keep my stomach from growling until mid-day meal. Putting the plate with the moldy bread to the side, I clasped my hands together and began a prayer to the Divines.

"Father Akatosh, grant me strength in the days to come.

Lord Arkay, my life cycle is in your hands and I trust you with it, as I have all my life.

Lady Dibella, may your grace shine through me, a vessel of your will.

Lord Julianos, shine your vast knowledge upon my humble wisdom.

Lady Kynareth, grant me a bounty in this land as I explore a land and revere nature to glory you.

Mother Mara, watch over me, your dutiful son in a land far from home.

Lord Stendarr, keep me on the true path of Justice and have Mercy on my transgressions in the past.

Lord Talos, though I am no Nord, grant me your blessing in the art of warf-"

"Who in Brimir's name are you praying to, familiar?" Louise interupted, causing me to lose my chains of thought as I beseeched my dieties for their blessings. "You worship more than one god?" she asked, dubiously.

Some people had noticed that my prayers were not to their "Brimir", but to another sort of deities all together and were looking at me with the countenance of a Thalmar at a Talos whorshiper. And I really hated the Thalmar.

I cast her a dark glare, which she took no notice of. "My religion is none of your concern, Master." I gritted out. "This is the religion of my homeland and it has been my foundation throughout my entire life." Continuing, I prayed:

"Lord Talos, thogh I am no Nord, grant me your blessing in the art of warfare as I will fight in your name.

And Lord Zenithar, grant me your undying fortitude and tenacity in my work and business in this land."

Finishing my prayer, I lifted the bowl of broth to my mouth when Louise said, "Your belief system is false. Some charlatan was obviously trying to beguile you into a cult."

With cold rage flaring in my heart at my beliefs being questioned and dismissed as 'false', I set the broth down on the table, hard, and asked her, "Tell me then, Master. Why is my belief in the Nine Divines so 'false', as you say?"

She seemed oblivious to my anger towards her claim. "Because," she began in a haughty tone, "It's so outlandish and stupid" -my fists clenched at this- "that there can be nine gods. You may be from a far land, perhaps thousands of leagues from Tristain and you were tricked into a cult, but you can cast that aside and worship Brimir! As your master, familiar, I command you to renounce your belief in these 'Divines' and believe The Founder Brimir for the rest of your life!"

The immense silence that followed was quiet enough to hear the sound of a small insect fly around in the air. Fury coursed through my veins and in in the storm of my mind, I felt the prescence of my guardian dities, though faint, were as heavy as an entire mountain. Rage, anger, disbelief, shock was what I felt- what THEY felt- at the claim that my faith in them being misplaced and their existence false, created by a charlatan.

"No."

For a second, Louise looked shocked, but it was replaced by anger. "What did you say?"

"As I said before," I said, my voice growing deeper and violent, "My belief system is none of your concern, _Master._" I said the word with as much venom as I could muster. "You can have me do ardous tasks, but no one, in Tamriel or your 'Halkegenia', will ever have me renounce my faith in the Nine Divines that have kept me alive through many a danger, just because you pecked me and gave me a tatoo on my hand."

She bristled as if stung by a hornet. "How dare you, familiar! You're supposed to obey me without question!"

"THAT is a slave," I pointed out, my fury rising with every heartbeat that passed. "And I will not be confused with such. I have only obeyed to avoid embarassing you in front of your peers as I felt sorry for your lack of ability in magic, but if you continue your pompus and arrogant persuit, you WILL pay the price of stepping on Imperial pride."

"There is no difference! A familiar is a familiar!" now she seemed frustrated both by my refusal to obey unquestioningly and my constant correction of my title. "Now bring me tea while I contemplate how to punish you for your insolence!" She pointed to the side, gesturing towards one of the maids pushing a cart laden with cups and teakettles.

"Get it yourself," I told her coldly, and I walked away. I don't know if it was because she was too shocked by my complete dismissal of her order, or if she though I was leaving her to go fume, but she did not follow me.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

So furious at Louise's words, I had failed to notice the shadow in front of me as I angrily exited the dining hall and stopped through the coridor. I bumped into it, lost my balance and both of us went down, rapidly positioning my hands opposite of the person so I would not crush him with my superior weight.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!"

Her. Opps.

Underneath my body was the maid, Siesta, who had helped me with the laundry last night, in a position that was more suitable for private quarters, looking as red as the contents of a Health Potion. This only confirmed my earlier theory that the Daedra were conspiring with Mara, with Seogorath as a co-conspirator, to have me married and tied to a bed. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

"Well, Siesta," I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice that was kindled with the rhetoric of my master, "It seems that we meet again, though I am truly sorry about the situation that it found us in."

I rose off of the maidservant and helped her up onto her feet. Aside from looking only slightly desheveled, there was no wrinkle or mark to otherwise suggest the previous awkward moment that happened between the both of us.

"Good morning, Dove!" she said cheerfully, flashing a smile that could melt the snow in Skyrim.

Before I could stop myself, I made a slight noise,accompanied by a facial tick, to suggest that I was not having a good morning. She noticed this and asked, "What's wrong? Aren't you supposed to be with your master?"

I let out a lengthy sigh, physically venting the anger and divine wrath that was in my chest. "My master an I," I began dryly, "Had a...religious disagreement over breakfast."

Judging by the way she tensed at the fact that I had a "disagreement" with a noble, I was forced to assume that in most senarios, the outcome did not end well for the commoner.

"But don't let it bother you." I assured her, scratching my beard. "I'm a man of about twenty or so summers and I can handle myself."

I had to get off of the topic before my blood boiled again and Talos' spirit manifested itself in my body and went on a bloody rampage. "So what was it that you were doing before I knocked us both over?"

"Oh, yes!" she affirmed, as if remembering something. "Forgive my rudeness, but I don't have time to chat for long. I have to refill the pastry cart." She indicated with a nod towards an empty table-on-wheels and I nodded in response.

"Here; I'll help you distribute the food. It's the least I can do for knocking you over."

Her face turned bright red. "Oh no," Siesta blurted out, though she didn't sound displeased by my offer. "I mean, this is supposed to be a time for you and your master to get to know each other. I'd hate to intrude." Though she said that, she didn't make any further attempt to chase me off.

"Trust me when I say this," I bluntly said. "The last thing that I want to see today is my master."

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Meeting the kitchen staff of the Academy was an interesting experience. It was non-stop activity as they labored for hours, preparing food for nobles that would eat it in a few minutes or simply let an unfinished or "slightly ruined" piece go to waste. Wasting was a humongous taboo in Skyrim, due to the unforgiving elements in the land, such as storm, plague, famine, vampires, dragons and one needed all the strength he or she could get in order to brave through such hardships.

Through the rush, I picked up an assortment of names, including faces to go with them. But the chef was the one who got my attention. Sure enough, no more than five minutes later I had been introduced to him, a strong looking man with a healthy disrespect for the nobility and a strong sense of sympathy for someone being put out upon by one. In other words, a good man.

After we loaded the cart, I pushed it through the doors and Siesta began to take the orders for the young nobles. I actually thought that my morning could go without further incident, but then I saw the table that Siesta was delivering the cake to. The effeminate boy that I ran into last night was seated at the table and underneath him, the mole I saw yesterday was nuzzeling his leg.

But it was the girl opposite of him that caught my attention. Instead of the girl with the brown cloak, a different girl was seated in front of him, a frog in the palm of her hand. I had no idea that a hairstlye like that could defy the world's pull and maintain its shape at the same time. This was clearly a different girl and the puzzle pieces clicked into place as I figured out the meaning of this:

Frilly boy was on an affair with two young girls.

I had no intention of interveening, but I got pulled into an incident as I was making my way back to the kitchen with the cart.

"You again. The boorish and rude commoner that Louise the Zero summoned," the boy said to my back, with the tone of someone who was about to do something cruel in order to impress a girl. Louise the Zero? So my master has a title? It sounded rather ominous. "Off to serve you mistress like the plebian you are?"

Well then. That sound you just heard was the sound of my patience breaking because of these arrogant pig-heads. A childish taunt thrown at the back of someone he believed wouldn't stand up for themselves. Too bad for him, he left himself vulnerable to rhetoric.

"You again. The self-absorbed fool from last night," I responded, turning around in time to catch his eyes bugging out over my rather direct insult. "Talking to another woman like you were last night? What on earth is the problem, the girl in the brown cape's desserts not good enough for you?"

"Y-y-you! How dare you address a noble in such a fashion, commoner!" he demanded, seemingly genuinely shocked that I'd put him in his place so bluntly. Excellent job at stating what just happened. "I shall have you…"

Whatever it was that he was going to have me do was interrupted by the blond girl.

"Guiche," she interrupted, her brow furrowing. "What is he talking about?"

The boy, obviously Guiche, suddenly looked a lot less angry at me and more with fixing the gap that I opened between him and one of his girls. "Nothing, Montmorency. The commoner is merely attempting to slander my good name." He leaned in close, taking the blond girl, Montmorency, by the hand and gazing deep into her eyes. "After all. I…"

"Cannot tell lies in front of your eyes?" I supplied for him, causing him to twitch. I turned to the blond girl who looked confused. "I remember him spouting that line to the girl from last night."

Montmorency was now less confused and very distraught and upset at Guchie. Her eyes narrowed and the hand that held no frog tightened. In his defense, Guchie began to shout, "Lies! All lies!" He took a rose from Talos knows where and held it to his face in an overly dramatic way. I almost gagged from the drama."Why in Brimir's name would I need a nother when I have you, Mon-Mon; you whose beauty rivals that of the morning star?" At that, she calmed down. Hmm...easily accepting of flattery?

I could never let my combinations die out, be it in battle or in bandying words. And over Guchie's shoulder, the killing blow was approaching.

"Perhaps...I was mistaken," I admited, and despite the fact that he was probably still angry at me starting this whole situation, Guiche threw me a grateful look. "But we can always ask the other girl! She's coming this way now," I pointed, and relished the way Guiche turned white as a ghost.

Montmorency let out a loud shriek of rage that would make Alduin himself wince.

My good mood restored and a satisfied smirk on my lips, I stepped out of the explosion radius, back-tracking as to not miss the detonation. Siesta came running back, hearing a commotion that had happened in her abscense, stopping at my side. "Wh-What happened?" she asked, breathlessly.

"The good sir over there," I pointed to Guchie, desperately trying to fan out the flames, "Has been caught consorting between two women. Her-" I pointed to the blonde "-and her-" I highlighted the brown-cloaked girl. "And he is about to get divine retribution."

The loud sound of one hand clapping echoed twice across the spacious dining hall as Guchie reeled from the fury of two women scorned. Ouch. Though he was an idiot, he had courage to try and challenge fate by taking on the trial of seeing two women at the same time. I had the courage, but I wasn't stupid, because when it came to the women of Skyrim...they sometimes have more ball * cough * blades then the men.

As both girls stormed away, furious and angry, the crowd of gathered students laughed and jeered at the misfortune of frilly boy. He struggled to get up, the angry red imprint of two hands on opposite sides of his face. His eyes landed on me and I gave him a cursory bow. The performer aspect of me did have a taste for flair. I was a bard, after all.

"You," he said, gritting his teeth as he spoke. "It appears that you are unaware of the etiquette whilst speaking with nobles," he accused me. The worry Siesta was displaying ratcheted up a notch. It probably never boded well for commoners when a noble speaks to them like that.

"Boy," I said, looking into his eyes. "You should have a better tounge for your elders. And while I do have your 'etiquette' when it comes to those of noble blood, I only use it for when the situation calls. And this, is most certainly not the situation."

"Then perhaps a duel will help you know the way of respect."

All side chatter froze and I tilted my head in an inquisitory manner. "A duel? You challenge me?" My right hand twitched instinctively at the challenge.

"A duel," he again proclaimed. "I can never look upon one who made two ladies cry."

"Then I am sorry to say this, but you are going to have a hard time applying medicine to your face when this is all over."

This elicited a laugh from the crowd, but I remained dead serious. A duel with a student magus of this world was going to be, undoubtably, one of the first of many magical fights to come. _Lord Akatosh and Talos, Divines and Daedra, thank you for giving me this opportunity to test my blade against the enemies of this land...even though the foe you sent me is an utter idiot..._

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**Ok! Here's where I'm going to cut off f****or now. **

**Please review!**


	6. Call of Valor: The Sixth Response

_With Dawnguard coming out for DLC and since I'm stuck in Military School without my ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the School wi-fi disables the site. _

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes! **_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (In case you forgot)**_

Name: Dovahkiinn (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (23), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (75)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (93)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (97), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set, Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED. Curbstomping FTW)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

Adressing the Fans-

**P.S. I still continue to write _Conduit of Zero. It's just that my muse is entirely focused on churning out chapters for this fic._**

**_P.P.S. Reccomended battle music- Dragon Rider by Two Steps from Hell (Extended Version)_**

**_DISCLAIMER! _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru. I also do not own the idea of a certain "Unnarmed Badass Viking" phenomenon on Youtube...**

* * *

**Chapter Six  
****Call of Valor: The Sixth Response**

"What in Brimir's name were you thinking?" Louise shrieked at me, seemingly forgetting our earlier "discussion" about world religion. "Why did you challenge Guchie to a duel?"

"If I may, master," I said as I strapped Iron Armor, the traditional armor of the Nords as a homage to Talos, onto my chest, "He was the one who challenged me. And our talk is distracting me from preparing for the fight."

We were currently in her room where I had left my pack. Through an enchanted means, lost through the ages, my backpack could house an infinate number of objects, as long as I was strong enough to lift the pack when all was said and put into the bag. And when I meant that I could put any object inside it...damn you Sheogorath...anyway, any object could fit in it and even if I did not have my pack, I could still get the item by pulling it out of the pocket of whatever I was wearing.

As Louise ranted at me, I withdrew my set of Iron Armor that was a colagmation of equipment stolen from dead bodies, or forged myself. In honor of Talos, I would fight as a traditional Nordic Warrior and wear the iron armor. Although, because of a special reason, I equiped the blood red Daedra gauntlets onto my arms, flexing the ebony links together.

As I put the tradtitional horned helmet on my head and shield on my left arm, Louise grabbed me by my sword arm and began a feeble attempt to drag me outside her room. "If we appologize now," she said without asking for my opinion, "Then he might forgive you for humilia-"

I jerked my arm back violently, causing her to stumble and scrape her knee across the floor. She stiffled a small cry and I saw tears forming at the edge of her eyes. I gave a sigh as I put my shield onto my back and knelt down to her. I really was a sucker for teary-eyed children in need of comfort...Grelod got what was coming to her...

"Louise." I said her name, causing her to flinch at my approach. "I must fight him. He directly insulted my heritage and soul's gift when he called me a 'commoner without manners'."

I gently laid my hands on her shoulder, activating the spell with a thought of my mind. Though the black gauntlets masked the glow of the magic, I could feel Louise's injuries knit themselves together. "He was one of your tormenters at my summoning, and don't lie to me about you being the butt of many jokes here at the academy.

"Why are you afraid?"

Louise still looked dazed, but she got up onto her feet. "You are the first thing I ever did mildly right, familiar. And now you're going to throw your life away for your honor," she said dejectedly.

"Come, Louise," I said, holding out my hand, "I will show you a reason to be unafraid as I battle with that skirt-chaser. You will see why you are not a failure..."

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"I commend your courage in not backing down, commoner!" shouted the blonde fool, flourishing his signature rose like a romantic.

There was a large crowd of students that came out of the castle to watch Guchie "beat the insolent commoner mercenary", undoubtably. As I approached with Louise in tow behind me, the crowd parted to let me onto the field, some snickering at my "ancient armor" and "mismatched gauntlets". Fashion was not a sense that I wished to have. Neither did Aela, Lidya, Farkas, nor Vilkas, just to name a few. Although what Ciccero sported could not have been concievably close to fashion.

"Keep your eyes on the battlefield, Master," I whispered to her and I gently nudged her towards the sidelines.

Guchie looked confused for a brief moment as he took in my appearence. "Where is your red armor from the day Louise summoned, no I'm sorry, _hired you_?" he asked, trying to use humor to turn the audience towards him as they gave a brief laugh. Good. The more people supported the skirt-chaser, the harsher I would bring them all down.

"No more talk, boy," I stated, putting up my fists, encased in ebony armor and rattling as the plates shifted on each other. "Now is the time to fight."

As I said the words, I felt an odd magic targeting me. I tensed, thinking it was hostile, but the nature of the mana was not hostile...it was curious and observative, directed to see, but not destroy. It seemed that someone was about to watch me rip the kid in half, but I dismissed this and returned my attention to the fool.

Bemused, Guchie proclaimed, "So eager to die, eh, commoner? Who am I to deny your request?" The crowd was eating his acting up. I must have made a boring figure in comparison. For all his smiling and posturing, I responded only with a grim expression and position.

Through the eye-holes of my helm, I took careful note of the crowd. I caught sight of Siesta, covering her mouth with her hands and looking so scared that she might become ill. I saw Louise as well, who looked resigned ,and ill herself, for not being able to stop what was about to happen. She might have tried to make more of an effort to stop it, but my casual declaration of my honor and a reason for her to be proud cause her to lapse into silent meditation. I also caught a glimpse of the Hroki-wannabe, standing next to a small girl with blue hair and staff. I recognized her as the owner of the dragon I had calmed down yesterday.

Instead of reading the book that I saw on my first day, she had locked her eyes on me with a stare so intense it almost was palpable.

Only she had any inkling that something more than a commoner getting a beat down was about to happen.

"My name is Guiche the Bronze. Therefore the bronze Golem, Valkyrie, shall be your opponent," he declared and from the place where a rose petal had fallen, a tall suit of armor sprouted, wielding a sword and covered in a metallic hue. Wow. So looks like they had a similar aspect of Conjuration in Halkegenia as well. But it was a poor effort. This thing looked as fragile as glass, and probably not as hardy as a Dwemer construct.

It charged at me, drawing its blade and shield. I made a similar charge of my own, holding my fists up and gearing for a strike. As it brough the blade down from the sky, I raised up my armored fist, ebony clashing against bronze. The blade of the golem broke, shattering the sword into pieces and it had no time to respond as I grabbed it by the base of its helm and slammed my ebony fist into its head. It rendered the helm from the base of the armor, sailing into the air and landing at the feet of its shocked Conjurer. The crowd had simmilar shocked features.

Forged in the fires of the Whiterun forges and enchanted in the College of Winterhold, my Daedric Gauntlets were crafted to honor the Legendary Nord Robaz, a warrior of ancient times who was said to fight only with his bare hands. Ripping the Gloves of the Puglist from Gian the Fist and destroying the item to gain its enchantment, I had toiled and spent many hours to achieve such gauntlets. I was the only person in Skyrim who would ever honor Robaz's legend, through my unarmed fighting and my utter manliness.

"Is that it?" I asked, cracking the joints in my neck. "I haven't broken a sweat yet!"

Obviously flustered, the boy dropped three more petals, three more bronze golem-warriors springing from the ground.

Knowing I had no choice but to use a sword, I drew the Daedric Blade that was sheathed in my baldric, bringing the serrated blade down, whistling into a battle-stance. Oddly, I felt magic emitting from my left hand and I felt that there was a strange power that came with binding Louise to myself. When I drew my blade, it became lighter, faster and my head was suddenly filled with ways and applications that could be put to the sword. But I couldn't waste anymore time thinking. It was now time to fight.

The first golem charged at me, wielding a long spear and thrusting towards me. Using my iron shield, I slammed the blade of the spear away from my body in an uppercut and, using my momentum, my right arm brought the serrated blade in a bruttal diagonal slash across the chest of the golem.

Bashing the helm of a warrior who had gotten too close to me with my iron shield, I countered the swing of the second to my right, catching the blade on one of the edges of my sword. With a brutal reverse thrust, I wrentched the sword from its grasp and brought my sword whistling down its middle. It collapsed, bisected down the middle and before all pieces hit the ground, I grabbed its bretheren by the neck of its helm, dragging it across three feet of serrated and refined ebony metal, a move normally performed on beings of flesh and blood, but just as effective on magical and mechanical constructs as well.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

Louise could say nothing as she watched what she believed to be a slaughter start. Her familiar's words did comfort her in a way, but she still had doubts about what he could do.

But then she saw him slay the first golem, her eyes barely able to see the blows he inflicted upon the enchanted bronze. She had to admit that she was impressed. So maybe she did summon a skilled mercenary from a far away land and she most sincerely hoped that with the death of the golem, it would be the end. Her prayers went unheeded as three more metal warriors burst forth from the ground.

She wanted to close her eyes as the next golem charged her familiar, two more following it, but her fears were unfounded as he cut them down like a commoner harvester does wheat. She knew that the feat of slicing a suit of armor in half was something that only a strong mage could accomplish, but here he was; a mercenary-warrrior slicing down all that stood in his way.

But it was the killing blow that he had used on the third golem. She was in shock as he dragged the struggling suit of armor across his blade and gasps were heard in the audience at his efficient brutality. It was not the brutalitly of the strike that caused her mind to go blank, but it was the familiarity of the move that unnerved her so. She had even performed it in her nightmare last night as she dreamed she was her familiar and a mysterious spea-

Louise's blood ran cold at the implication of her words. There was no possible explination for her nightmare to be true. It was only a dream...right?

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"You have skill for a commoner, I'll grant you that!" the fop arrogantly shouted. "But those were merely imitations; pale copies of what my true Valkyries are!"

The kid talked too much. That was apparent, but apparently he could back his claims because I felt a surge in mana that was coming from the ground. A large golem, completely clad in steel armor, bigger than its predecessors, stood at the ready, hefting a large battle-axe with edges that caught the sunlight.

Not good. Most definetly not good.

It barreled towards me and I caught the blow from the battle axe on my shield, causing me to stagger slightly. I swung my sword at it, but it caught my blade on the ends of its axe, using all its strength to continue the stalemate as we pushed our blades against the other, afraid of a sudden slip that would allow one to move in on an opening.

It suddenly found a burst of strength and it knocked me off my feet, throwing me back a distance. I landed on my feet, but I had barely enough recovery time to raise my sword and counter as the bronze behemoth charged towards me. I cursed, seeing as there was no other choice but to use my magic, but Guchie took it as a sign of his victory.

"HA! You cannot stand against a true golem of the Gramont family, commoner!"

Normally, I tried to be careful when I used magic in spaces with non-combatants, but who would honestly consider the fool hiding behind the skirts of his golem a non-combatant?

One heartbeat passed as I chose the spell appropriate for the opponent. Another passed as I prepared my mana to fuel the magic. Tendrils of hell manifested themselves in the palms of my hand and I gathered mana to fuel the combined effect of two hellstorms together. As the golem neared about fifteen paces from me, I unleashed twin orbs of hell, screaming from my hand to the target at a speed that only a seasoned warrior could track and hope to dodge.

The Adept-Level Fireballs struck the Valkyrie with a tremendous sound and exploded upon impact, creating a roaring firestorm of metal fragments and burning debris. I leaped backwards as flames engilfed a circle of ten paces, consuming everything that could be burned in its path. As the dust settled, there lay the twisted ruin of a bronze Valkyrie, half melted and smouldering from the heat of the spell.

A shocked silence fell upon the gathering of mages. No student in the crowd made a comment, an outburst or even the slightest hint of noise. All that I could hear was the sound of the fire smouldering where the golem was standing and the incoherent noises that frilly boy was making as he struggled to comprehend what he saw.

Then the dam burst.

"B-b-but how?" he screamed at me. "But that's impossible! How can you use magic?"

I sneeered at him, a chaotic smirk growing on my face as I advanced towards him, hands ignited and ready to throw fire and fury. In panic, he waved his rose, slashing frantically in the air as several petals dropped onto the ground. No less than SIX bronze Valkyries stood in my path between me and their master. As one, they drew their weapons and moved to flank me. But I was ready for them.

Before they could move, I readied another spell, the flames discipitating as my hands grew colder, mimicing the air of Skyrim's coldest storm. My hands were a blur and two spikes of ice flew out of my hands, impaling the two closest Valkyries in the center of their visors. They fell as I dashed forward, drawing the Ebony blade from its sheathe as I cut down a Valkyrie charging me with its spear, slicing the shaft of the spear in half and chopping it's head off with a backhand reverse strike.

I laughed in spite of myself, shocking me as much as it did Guchie and the crowd. I could never be this fast, this swift or this deadly just with bare skill alone. Elemental Fury was the closest thing I could link this phenomenon to, but I had not Shouted or used a Thu'um. This was something else entirely. But I couldn't afford to dwell on the subject anymore.

The remaining three rushed forward, hoping to overwhelm me with their mass and numbers. I changed magics again, the energy in my hands becoming angry and furious, violent and writhing, as the energy stored within thrashed as I charged the spell. As they began to swing their weapons, I unleashed the storm that was building in my two hands, thrusting my hands forward and arcing them to concentrate the blast of my energy.

The lightning struck the center Valkyrie with the force of an angry god and it spasmed and jerked in a macbere dance as the energy coursed through the metal. Sparks leapt onto the two beside it and all three shared the same 'pain' as the forces of the storm ravaged their bodies. They fell with a mighty crash, armor twisted beyond mortal repair and trailing smoke as they lay ruined upon the ground.

Now nothing stood between me and the skirt-chasing, blond, arrogant, noble brat.

Panicked, he fell off his feet and inched backwards away from me as I advanced towards him. "S-s-stay away!" he cried as he frantically waved the rose wand, foolishly expending the last dregs of energy he had.

About sixteen figures eruppted from the ground, but these were nowhere as noble as the other golems that I fought earlier. The bronze armor was a near liquid and I could easily see the frightened face of my foe. They moved slowly and sluggishly, and some had weapons of crude design, but most had none.

It was a pathetic sight.

"Now you shall kn-know pain, knave!" he cried out, hoping that he would be able to overwhelm me with even a larger amount of numbers.

Big mistake.

I lowered my hands, crackling with the storm, and for a second, the idiot had a glimmer of hope on his face that belied the thought that he could still win against this...thing.

I meditated upon the words that Paathernax, my greatest mentor and friend, had helped me train to the greatest extent. I meditated upon the words that had first marked me as a Dragonborn. I meditated upon thefirst three words that I collected to make the Shout that all denizens of Skyrim recognized. I meditated upon the shout that terrified my enemies and gave hope to all those who I had fought for.

Force...Balance...Push...

Drawing a deep breath, I felt a stirring in my chest that roared its approval as I released all my emotions in a single, furious Shout, the gift of my destiny as the man with a dragon's soul.

"FUS...RO DAH!"

A wave of blue energy errupted from my mouth and grew bigger as it roared through the air, gaining size and ferocity with every pace it traveled. The bulk of the bronze forces were swept away as the wave slammed into them, tossing them into the air like so many enemies in the land of Skyrim. They fell to the earth with a mighty crash, shattering as they impacted the ground.

And Guchie?

The boy was lifted into the air, along side his forces, and he when he descended, he fell upon his right arm. I heard a terrible cracking noise, accompanied by a scream of pain and I knew that the poor fool had broken one of his limbs in the fall. I advanced towards him, drawing the Daedric Blade from its sheath and I held it to the boy's neck, pressing slightly into his flesh.

Wide-eyed and terrified, he screamed at me, "Yield! I yield!"

My eyes darted away from the boy and I beheld the audience that had accompanied us. They had probably expected another upstart commoner to be thrashed elegantly by a noble, and when finished, they would have left me, bleeding out as they went and drank tea and ate their land's equivilent of Sweet Rolls.

Instead, I had showed them fear. I had showed them the clash of metal in a frenzied battle of life and death. I had shown them magic applied in ways they could never have accomplished, let alone dreamed, of doing. I had shown them the rage and power of the dragons of olde,, channeled into three words uttered in a harsh and ancient tounge.

I had shown them unstoppable violence, the certain end that awaits all who carry blades to wield against their fellow man.

Many students were staring at me in shock, their jaws as wide as the beards of my teachers. Some were crying and shaking in terror at my celestial display of inhuman power. All were shocked. Even the girl with blue hair had set her book down, her eyes as wide as possible and mouth open in a small "o" of surprise.

I returned my attention to the pretty boy at my feet. "Excuse me?"

"Y-yield!" he screamed, clutching his broken arm and eyeing the serrated blade at the edge of his throat.

I made no indication that I had heard him, intensifying his pleas of mercy. "I said that I yield! What are you waiting for?"

"I seem to remember you saying something earlier, brat." I said, igniting my hand and releshing the look of terror on his face. "You had challenged me to...a duel? But are not all duels fought to the death?"

"I-" he began, then choked as the edges of the Daedric blade scratched against his chin, drawing small rivulets of blood. He burst into sobs. "I want to live! I yield!"

"Pathetic." I hissed at him. "You challenged me to a duel, knowing that one of us was going to end up seriously injured or dead and now you want to live? How sad of the nobles. You have shamed your ancestors, stripling, through your actions on the battlefield.

"You thought, by fighting me, that you would be able to regain the honor that you lost through your own folly. You thought that using violence as a way to regain honor by beating, even killing, a commoner that could not defend himself, was an easy means. Then, when you find that your opponent is stronger than you, you beg for mercy, though you had every intention of seriously maiming him?

"Your convictions you were so willing to kill for were not enough for you to die for." I scowled at him. "How contemptible. If this is the common attitude amongst those of noble blood, then I am glad I bear no such title."

I withdrew the blade from his throat and he began to shake uncontrolably. Pathetic. He had soiled himself out of fear.

I stalked towards the crowd, and they parted before me like demons before a holy man. I searched until I found the one person I was looking for. She seemed to be in a state of shock as she looked up at me, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

I gave her a warm smile. "Now you see why I am unafraid, Louise. I was told by the fop that the skill of the mage reflects the skill of the familiar, no? You are not a failure..."

She looked at me, incredulous for a few seconds as she took in my majesty. Then, managing to drag herself out of her state of shock, the first thing she did...

...was to furiously kick me in the knee.

Ouch...though armored, now I know how Skyrim guards feel when they said that they had taken "an arrow to the knee" (although I took a limb to the knee). Oh well, same feeling and same effect...wait, I can't feel anything at all.

Damn, you Sheogorath...damn you...

* * *

**Ok! Here's where I'm going to cut off f****or now. I hope you had enough violence and "power to the people!" moments to satisfy you. Next stop...**

**INTEROGATION!**

**This chapter marks the end of the "Call of Valor" segment and a new slice begins. Next time on _Dovahkiin of Zero..._**

**_"The Rumbling Earth: The First Tremor."_**

**Please review and good night/morning/afternoon.(It's 9:28 PM EST where I'm at when this went up).**

**Please review!**


	7. The Rumbling Earth: The First Tremor

_With Dawnguard coming out for XBOX and since I own a ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the PSN doesn't have it available yet._

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes!**_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (In case you forgot)**_

Name: Dovahkiin (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities (EDIT: Except for cities that require participation in the Civil War)

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (63), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (75)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (93)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (97), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set, Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED. Curbstomping FTW!)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

Adressing the Fans-

**P.S. I still continue to write _Conduit of Zero. It's just that my muse is entirely focused on churning out chapters for this fic._**

**_P.P.S. In response to a few reviewers about the dialogue at the end, I did say that I was trying to improve dialogue, so I have been going back to the "Root" of all epic Zero no Tsukaima crossover fanfiction for inspiration for conversations._**

**_P.P.P.S. In the words of Hyllian, creator of_ **Consuming Direct Control, **_100 reviews and 117 (squeee!) faves? Holy goodness! (Flails)_**

**_P.P.P.P.S. I'm out of military school. Shockingly, being in the Academy allowed me to update faster with the concentrated "study hall" periods, but let's be honest- who studies during study hall? Updates will come, albeit a bit more slowly._**

**_A/N: In advance, I apologize for the lack of action. This chapter is only the required interrogation scene after the fight and a bit more._**

**_DISCLAIMER! _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru. And though I will be basing off some of my dialouge off of the sacred _Hill of Swords..._y'know what? I think we all know who wrote this epic piece of literature, but I'll say it anyway- I do not own HoS. That belongs to Gabriel Blessing._  
_**

**A/N: This is the edited version.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven  
****The Rumbing Earth: The First Tremor**

"STUPID!"

CLANG.

"STUPID!"

CLANG.

"STUPID!"

CLANG.

"STUPID FAMILIAR!"

As I stood near the battlefield where smoldering wreckage was strewn about the landscape, my poor shin and knee were under assault by one of man's most deadly of assailants:

A very angry, young woman. Mara had to be behind this one, for sure...

A few moments after I left the broken fool on the ground, adults ran out of the school as fast as a Kajiit competing for their infamous drink, Skooma. Hoisting the sobbing and whimpering blonde onto a stretcher, they sprinted back into the corridors of the castle, one of them looking back as to make sure I wasn't pursuing my latest victim of my power. Meanwhile, the other students backed as far away from me and Louise as possible, fear of being stricken present in their stances, but curiosity kept them within hearing range to hear the drama unfold.

"I thought you were going to die!" she screamed at me, pounding my chest plate with enough feroicity to force me to take steps back but not hurting me in any way. "Are you happy now? That you made me worried sick and afraid, and then throw that in my face?"

With a final and feeble attempt at a bash at my armor, I saw blood on the distraught girl's hand, no doubt brought on by smashing into Skyrim Iron Armor. She collapsed to the ground, sobbing bitterly, tears flowing freely from her eyes and shaking uncontrollably. A teacher noticed the blood on her hands and moved near us in an attempt to take her to what I had hoped would be the infirmary. I cast him a dirty glare that caused him to stagger in his steps. With a quick motion of my head, I sent him on his way.

I kneeled to meet Louise's eye level. I took her hands, causing her to flinch as she sobbed, and I channeled the mana in my hands to knit her flesh back together. Golden light swhirled around us, drawing gasps and sounds from the onlooking students. Louise looked up and she saw, with astonishment, that her bruised and bloody hands were being healed by a warrior cappable of so much death and destruction.

"Louise," I said gently, continuing the output of my mana. "I am truly sorry that I could not tell you that I was cappable of what I had just wrought on the battlefield. I was...confused because I was in a land not of my home and I could not trust anyone with what I could do. I had not the intent to draw enemies into conflict until the incident at breakfast this morning."

She gave me no indication that she heard, but her sobs did lessen and she had stopped shaking. I put my arms around her, taking care not to scratch her clothing with the Daedra gauntlets, wrapping her in a gentle embrace of iron and ebony. I held the position for a few moments before I retracted my arms from her small frame.

"But you did get what you asked for, right? You got one hell of a familiar, lass!" I barked, smacking my chest-plate with my fist.

Louise looked into my eyes, looking for all the world like a tiny kitten, pink eyes looking at me in wonder. Divines, I was such a sucker for cute. Except in the case of rabbits in the wildernes. I don't see cute. I only saw food.

"B-but what was that?" she asked me, suddenly remembering that I wielded magic. "How in Brimir's name could you have accomplished something like...like THAT?" She gestured to the wreckage and I gave a brief smile on my face.

"I'm not so common as one would think, Louise," I replied, uncorking a health potion and downing the contents in one swing.

"Bu-" she began but was cut off with the arrival of newcomers.

"There are many questions, Miss Valliere,"urmured a new voice. I turned around. Colbert was there, but he wasn't the one that had spoken. It was... well, the elderly man with a beard that put those of the Greybeards to shame in both color and length. His eyes twinkled as they looked me up and down, trying to measure my power as a magus.

"But I think they are best be answered elsewhere... such as, perhaps, somewhere more private? Please, come with us."

**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN __****DOVAHKIIN**_** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

The old man's office was impressive, to say the least. He had four massive bookcases decorating his room, arranged around each window that was placed at the bottom of four of the five walls in the pentagonal office. Each case was devoted to each of the four elements of this world, with books and artifacts dedicated to each. More miscellaneous items were scattered about on a collection of cases; busts, relics and stacks of books were spread around the room in equal measure, and I found myself wondering if I could possibly borrow these in my spare time...if such a concept existed in my life.

Returning my attention to the situation at hand, I took in the faces of those who had wanted an audience with me. Colbert was a familiar face, no pun intended, clutching a stack of papers. The elder was obviously the headmaster of the Magic Academy. Ah, stereotypes...typical for a bearded man to be the leader of a school of magic. The woman with green hair and an occular device stood off to the side, paying attention to the floor more than me, eyes darting at the slightest sign of movement. Odd.

Colbert inclined his head slowly to me and I returned his greeting. His eyes were intense; the professor was no doubt studying the warrior in front of him carefully, even now tracing the lines of my scars and the equipment I used. I felt like his eyes were dissecting me. The man's gaze was no longer academic; it was the feel of one combatant sizing up his opponent.

The old man coughed, drawing everyone's attention to the center of the room. He introduced himself, saying, "My name is Osmond, and I am the headmaster of his academy. You have already met Professor Colbert. And this is my secretary, Miss Longueville. As you can guess, there are some... issues... that we must discuss."

Ah. One day into this land and I was already the object of scrutiny and interogations? Wow. New record. At least Balgruuf, the Jarl of Whiterun, had the curtosy of waiting for me to kill a dragon before he went into his "Divines, you're a Dragonborn" speech.

Taking a deep breath from an ornate pipe, he sighed and set it down, smoke discipitating near him like the clouds that clung to High Hrothgar. Our eyes met and in his gaze, I saw an absolute iron will and...a twinkle of elderly amusement. Final judgement? Nice guy to be around, but don't get caught holding him up on the roads.

"Your identity," Osmond said, brushing away some of the lingering vapors from his pipe. "Seems to be the most concerning issue at this point. Might I ask what your name is?"

This was really awkward...

"Sir Mage, I am afraid that I do not remember my name." I stated simply. Lying wasn't going to help me at this point. "But I have taken the name of 'Dove Ahkiin' as a suitable replacement."

He nodded solemnly. "Well, Mr. Dove, the first thing that's concerning myself and my staff is the wherabouts of your homeland? Your..." he waved at the equipment that I was wearing. "...armor is not of this land and I do not recognize it as to that of the other nations."

I pulled out two scrolls of paper from my "void inventory" (Divines, thank you for such a blessing on a poor mortal, such as myself) and unfurled them out onto the desk. Sketched in magnificent calligraphy were two maps of the continent of Tamariel, one being a detailed one about Skyrim with my notes scratched onto the surface of the worn parchment.

They leaned in to see the lands and I gestured towards Cyrodiil. "This is the country where my people hailed from. I am of the Imperials, a race that is well known for their srewdness in both politics and battle. Though physically less imposing than the other races, we Imperials," my voice swelled with pride, "Managed to dominate the entire continent and bring about peace and prosperity to the continent of Tamariel."

"But where is this...this 'Tamariel'?" Colbert asked, scribbling down notes on parchment paper. What a dedicated researcher. "It isn't on any of our known maps."

A sinking feeling manifested itself in my stomach as I requested to see a map of this land. Sure enough, my fears were confirmed as I saw a landscape that was far different from that of Skyrim. FAR different. It was like the creator of this world just smeared a blob of land and took a piss in the ocean. It was completely disorganized, though I felt that there was a primeval feel to the lands.

But it did tell me one more thing: I was even further from Skyrim than I thought. Divines, I'm pretty sure I'm not even in Nirn anymore.

I shook my head. "I'm afraid that I cannot find my home on your continent's map." I repressed the urge to sigh deeply.

Osmond gave me a sympathetic look. "I can understand how it feels for a warrior to be far from the land he calls home. But you mean to say that you are from...another world?"

Obvious, much? The fact that there were no marching soldiers, too many civillians and snotty brats that could use magic was a BIG hint in that there was no land in Nirn that would have such..._unusual_ traits. I nodded slowly and the elder mage's eyes crinkled upwards. "Wonderful! Now, next thing that I would like to know is the equipment that you use. You are a well seasoned warrior, I take it?"

"I've been in battles since the day I lost my memory." I replied simply. "There were many...situations that I had to adapt to in order to come out alive."

That was a complete understatement. It was do-or-die in the lands of Skyrim. I repressed sudders as thoughts of close brushes with death sprang up into my mind. Farkas lying on the ground near death as the Silver Hand warriors raised their swords...a giant smashing its club at Lydia, tossing her aside like a rag doll...Berelyna screaming in agony as Dragon Priest Morokei blasted her with lightning in the Labryinthian...a Dragon snatching a poor Windhelm guard next to me in its mouth, shaking vigourously as it snapped the poor bastard's spine...

"The look on your face," Colbert noted, setting down his quill and regarding me with an odd expression, "Says that you've endured through many battles, Sir Dove."

I nodded grimly. "The land that I lived in was accustomed to conflict and constant battle."

" Was life always this harsh in the land of this 'Cyrodiil'?"

I gave him a rueful smile. "For the past few seasons, I have inhabited the Nordic lands of Skyrim." I stated, tapping Skyrim on the continent map and then pushing the enlarged map of the Nordic providence forward. "Life there was as fickle as the changing weather, Mr..." I trailed off awkwardly, unsure as to what name to call the balding magus.

He returned my smile. "Just call me Colbert, Dove."

Hmm. For the first time, he lowered his guard and he managed to relax around me, something he didn't do when I had came here. He seemed like a likable man. I couldn't wait to see him in action. Maybe an expedition...

"Oh." Osmond said, suddenly remembering an important thought. "We have seen you capable as a warrior, Sir Dove. But what had us summon you to my office was that you were able to use magic in your duel against Mister Gramont. Might you explain?"

Louise managed to perk up at that. She looked at me and burst out, "Yes! How on earth can you, a common warrior, use magic?!"

Great. The second-to-last subject that I was hoping to save for a more better time was being dredged to the figurative table for scrutiny. Well, best get it over with as soon as possible.

"Your eyes did not deceive you, Louise, Osmond. I am fully capable of using magic."

Colbert's eyes began to gleam and setting down a well-written-upon sheet of parchment on a growing stack of notes, presumably about me, he took another on and stood, quill at the ready. Oh, Divines, please no. Not ANOTHER Farengar Secret-Fire...although, I had to admit, this one was less...enthusiastic...

"I had a feeling that you could use magic, Sir Dove," Colbert said, giving me a bright smile, but my gut grew cold at that. "But I'm afraid tha-"

The secretary gestured at me, cutting off the professor. "Your magics are...different from our own. What kind of magic was that?" she asked inquisitively, picking up the trail that Colbert had set down.

"I most certainly have never seen unincanted elemental projection before either..." Osmond added.

I sighed as I held up my hand and mana began to circulate through my appendages, but not expend itself and take the form of the elements. Fire blossomed in my right hand and lightning crackled into existence in my left. All looked upon the swirling elements in my hand with deep interest. Colbert's quill scribbled faster.

"In Tamariel, anyone with a high mana count in their body can use it, from the lowest peasant to the highest king. No one is exempted from learning magic." I explained.

That last statement got quite the reaction. Colbert's quill skewed across the parchment he was writing on, staining the fine paper with a diagonal line. Longueville dropped the stack of papers she was carrying. Osmond's grip on his ornate pipe tightened and the wood began to creak and groan in protest to the sudden change in his grip. Louise's eyes grew wider than a cheese wedge and she sank to the floor, legs giving way from shock.

"WHAT?!" Colbert, Longueville and Louise exclaimed, shouted and shrieked, respectively. Note to self: don't say things that could shake the foundations of this world lightly. Adding onto that thought, I better not tell them I can eat Dragon Souls...the last thing I wanted was for a religious inquiry to be made about me...AGAIN...damn Thalmor...

I shrugged. "Based on what I know, your magics are only confined to the ruling class," I said, gesturing with my still-primed hands. "There is no social standard for the education of magic in Tamariel, save for superstitious and ignorant farmers who are too afraid of magic to tough it."

Colbert straightened his ocular device. "I-I see! But what was that last spell that you used in the end of your duel?"

"If my memory serves," Osmond stated, taking another drag from his pipe, "That was the only incanted magic that you used in the entirety of your fight."

Oh dear. This was the one thing that, while normally open in Skyrim, would probably land me either in an asylum with insane men or on a lab table for "experimentations". They had no right to know that I was the Dragonborn! They do not worship the Nine and venerate the Daedra, thus marking themselves as unworthy for me, the Champion of the Divines, to share the secret of my destiny.

But an explanation had to be given. I figured I would tell them the truth...at least half of it anyway.

"The magic that I used is a magic lost in time that can be only wielded by a sacred few," I stated simply. Technically, it WAS true; the mastery over the Thu'um was something that only a select few could know, and said select few were akin to monks that lived in utter seclusion. "I was born into it and my order prohibits me from revealing its functions and secrets to any outside the order." And since I still held favor with the Greybeards, showing anger and disgust at the thought of killing Paarthurnax, I was considered an "honorary member" in their inner circle for keeping the peace.

I loved using rhetoric to get away with lying.

Colbert and, strangely, Loungeville looked crestfallen at the prospect of not hearing my even stranger magic. Louise looked livid and whispered harshly to me, "Forget about secrecy, Dove! These are some of the most powerful mages in Tristain, disregarding Her Majesty! If you won't do it on your own accord, then I order you, as-"

"Sorry, Louise," I interrupted, cutting off the beginning of her tirade and giving her a strained smile. "But this order is well known for killing people painfully if they go against them and I have no doubt that they could track and find me here." The last part was an absolute lie, unless my mentors created a Shout to rip through the veil of space and time, Summon Durnehviir exempted. Though, I'm VERY sure that being "pushed" off High Hrothgar by a Shout incanted by a Greybeard and falling off a Divines-knows-high mountain probably fell under "painful death".

Osmond held up his hands, placating the two staff members beside him. "If your order forbids you to say anything, then I will not coerce you to talk, Dove," he said. THANK YOU, DIVINES! Someone who understands the need for secrecy! "You seem to be well knowledged in the art of magics, Sir Dove."

Break it to them gently, yeah right. I unarmed the spells in my hands and I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. Here we go...

"It would make sense, Osmond. I am the Archmage of the College of Winterhold, an academy in the remote north that educates aspiring mages."

A heavy silence filled the room as they processed that statement. Whoa...if Louise's eyes got any bigger, she'd put Dawnbringer's size to shame.

Loungeville was the first to break the silence. "So in addition to being a warrior-mage," she stated, selecting her words carefully and wearing a hungry expression. "You are the 'Archmagus' of a school of magic?"

I gestured to the headmaster. "At the school, I hold the same rank as Osmond; I preside over the entire school and the teaching staff report to me." That was a huge overstatement of the small school in the north with only six teachers and even less students due to mistrust and superstition. Ah, Speechcraft...

"I am, undoubtedly, the strongest magus in Skyrim." I stated simply, neither boasting nor bragging about my skills.

Osmond's eyes twinkled in excitement. "Could you perhaps demonstrate your skill in your magics?"

An idea formulated itself in my head. It was almost a physical blow to my brain in the fact that it was so ludicrous and absurd that Sheogorath himself had to have planted it inside my skull. But what the hell...I'm in a new land and on a new adventure. No risk, no reward, right? This one's for you, Prince of Madness...

I grinned savagely. "Tell me, Osmond. Do you have any teaching positions open?"

**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN __****DOVAHKIIN**_** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_Around noontime..._

Louise's head was spinning after they left Headmaster Osmond's office. When finished discussing arrangements for him to begin teaching at the school, they were gently hushed outside with a small reminder not to cause anymore property damage to the school. And though she was in a better mood (one could even say joyous), she still couldn't believe that this was happening...

Her familiar was going to TEACH at the Academy!

"Louise?" her fami- NO; she would address him by his given name- Dove asked her.

"Yes, Dove?" she replied, looking straight at his eyes.

"Is there a reason why the Dining hall is nearly deserted? Aside from me beating that boy."

True to his word, the Dining hall that they were sitting in was practically empty, with only a few stragglers sitting as far away from the pair of them. When they entered, the students shifted chairs, moved bodies and/or grabbed each other in comfort as they walked by to grab a quick brunch. After they sat, the other students rushed like mad to wolf down their midday meal and scramble out of their presence.

She snorted. "Today is the 'Day of the Void'. The students are given a day off to bond with their familiars."

He raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "I see," he responded. "And what do you propose we do in order to, as you say, 'bond'?"

Louise honestly had no idea what she could do in order to..._bond_ with a man ferocious enough to slice an enchanted suit of armor in half.

"Say, Louise?" he asked, eyes glowing brightly in excitement. "Do you happen to know where a warrior might find weapons and armor? I feel that my...ebony blade draws FAR" -he stressed this word- "too much attention. I'm sure that the Daedra are treated with hostility here and if someone with the right knowledge sees my blade...I'm only going to say that I don't want a religious inquiry made about me."

She couldn't argue with that, despite having no idea what he was talking about. But seriously...serrated edges?

Founder, this was a disaster waiting to happen.

* * *

**This chapter marks the end of the "Call of Valor" segment and a new slice begins; that of "The Rumbling Earth".**

**Please review!**


	8. The Rumbling Earth: The Second Tremor

_With Dawnguard coming out for XBOX and since I own a ps3, I have no idea what will go on in the new DLC, aside from what I can find out on Wikipedia and such. If anyone is playing it, please give me plot info details because the PSN doesn't have it available yet._

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes! **_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (In case you forgot)**_

Name: Dovahkiin (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities (EDIT: Except for cities that require participation in the Civil War)

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (63), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (75)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (93)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (97), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set, Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED. Curbstomping FTW!)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

Adressing the Fans-

Guest- His horse was in the stables. Ultimately, my Dovahkiin has a soft spot for kids in need (I hacked Gerold apart with my Daedric Greadsword). As to the contract, Dove was still in a bit of shell-shock as in "WTF am I" and was to slow to react and process anything. Colbert did know that he could use magic, but he was uncertain as to the degree of power and what type it was, ergo him getting all excited.

As for his weapons and about sticking out, he's the kind of guy that likes getting attention, but not "THAT" kind of attention. I mean, if a church official read Brimir's journal and then he saw our Dove and a Daedric sword strapped to his hip, I'm very sure that there will be Inquisition with warrior-monks shouting "HERESY!" and "BEGONE, DAEMON!" (My WH40k is flaring up again).

As for his teaching...let's just say that he's not gonna be teaching them his magic. The ZnT nobleman magic is far to different, but for commoners...IDK, honestly. But Dove will be teaching the nobles (**SPOILER ALERT! AVERT THY EYES!) **magical combat. Maybe some enchanting or potion making...but not his magic.

As for Fouquet, I am most certainly deviating from canon because my Dovahkiin has more of a spine than Saito. I will deviate in many ways from canon, but I will keep to the major elements of the plot.

I hope I covered what you inquired about. If not, PM me or post another review.

To all those who noticed my Jarl mistake- Derp. I should be shot in the knee for that. I'll edit that after this goes up.

Archwizard- Yeah...he's not exactly the "Paragon of Justice" that most people will peg him to be as the plot progresses. But he will have his reasons to explain why he did actions like that...

Spartan S-999- I said close brushes with death, so no, they're not dead.

Brad W-** (SPOILER ALERT! AVERT THINE EYES IF THOU DOST NOT WANNA SEE!) **Magical Combat, but as I said above, he will not be teaching any NOBLES (hint, hint) his magics.

**P.S. I still continue to write _Conduit of Zero. It's just that my muse is entirely focused on churning out chapters for this fic. I can easily assimilate myself into the role of the Dragonborn, but it is a challenge for me to depict Hero!Cole due to his ambiguous past and "screw you" demeanor._**

**_P.P.S About my discrepancies in the Spell-check, I hop from computer to computer to type this fic due to my summer vacation travel plan (Y U NO HAVE COMPUTER, sayain673?! *sobs*). Not all computers have a spell check function..._**

**_P.P.P.S. I am now going to make the chapters longer. About 4-6k should be the average wording length per update._**

**Recommended Battle Music: Two Hornpipes (from the Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest) or any Irish Tavern Music. Or if any of you have a Pandora account, look up "Richard Greene- Wolves A-Howlin' " and select the song "Pipehorn Hornpipe". You'll know when to play it.**

**_DISCLAIMER! _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru. And while I have some cameos from other franchises, I don't own those either.**

* * *

**Chapter Eight  
****The Rumbing Earth: The Second Tremor**

Shadowmere was not a normal steed or mare that could be found in the wilds of Tamariel nor any other land on Nirn. She was a creature born out of darkness, with nigh immortality and blood red eyes. Over two hundred summers old, she was a veteran to bearing mighty warriors on her back and capable in combat. With black fur that bled a sense of restrained fury and power, she was a mighty enemy and a worthy ally to those in her favor.

However, she did tend to stick out in a crowded town.

"Was it truly necessary to bring your horse?" Louise asked me, slowly shrinking from the glances of the people. "We have other horses in the stables of the Academy..."

She trailed off as I gave her a look that clearly said that I would not be parted from my beloved Daedric steed.

"In the event of a fight, I want to have a veteran of combat with me," I pointed out, gently rubbing Shadowmere's head. "Not some swancy, inexperienced mare."

"But they're staring..." she whined.

Well, they couldn't be staring because of my display of iron armor on my body. But I guess the sight of a young noble girl on a horse from the darkest nightmare being ridden by a warrior with armor from the north did attract attention. Oh well...

We rode through the crowded town, ignoring the whispers and looks that the townsfolk managed to produce and Louise managed to be less self-conscious enough to point out directions to the local smithy. As we made our way, the worn buildings of the middle and lower class gave way to the frequently refurbished and restored buildings of the upperclass merchants.

It was a magical heaven that Berelyna, J'zargo, Onmund or any self-respecting mage in the College would have killed to enter. Scrolls with archaic writing stood propped out the window of what was, undoubtly, a store where one could procure magical tomes and texts. Along one wall, several appothecary shops spewed vapors and fumes out of culdrons and motars held plant ingredients that I could not identify. The smell would drive back the entire Legion and Stormcloaks combined, but I would eagerly immerse myself in the various magical ingredients that I could use to make my potions.

Odd enough, there were seldom shops that sold enchanted items. A ring was here and a necklace was there, but no shop seemed to have a steady supply of goods to sell. Maybe enchanting items was a lost art or a rarity? Either way, I could make a killing in the enchanted items market, Zenithar aid me.

A question popped into my head that I had not thought of asking Louise before. Seated behind me on the saddle, I jolted her lightly and asked, "How am I going to pay for anything that I purchase? I have my country's coin but I don't thing that there's a money-changer that could change Septims into whatever currency you use."

"We use gold coins for our business," she replied and I heard the jingling of coins inside a coin purse behind me. "If you're worrying about buying something, I'll take care of it for you!"

Wow...that was nice of her.

"You'll need a sword worthy of a noble to wield in my name!"

And there we go...but it was still nice of her.

I stopped Shadowmere at a building with a sword and shield emblazoned onto a wooden sign hanging over the entrance. Dismounting Shadowmere, I tied the reins to a hitching post and helped Louise down. She grumbled something about being able to let herself down but she didn't look too comfortable about jumping down from a horse that was almost twice her size.

As I patted Shadowmere's head, she swung her head and hit me on the helmet, causing the constellations of my skills to flash before my eyes. She snorted angrily and I could tell that she was still mad for being left in the stables with all the regular horses. How does one appease a Daedric horse...bloody meat?

Regressing from that, we made our way up the stairs and I pushed the door open.

"Welcome, customers," the shop keeper called out as we entered the shop. A short, somewhat pudgy, man either sat or stood behind the counter, the clothes and jewels he was wearing marking him as one of a rich merchant.

While I didn't like the tone of his voice, I couldn't say the same thing about the shop. Weapons ranging from swords to maces to spears and halberds adorned the walls of the shop, resting on racks or protruding out of barrels. All shone with a metallic sheen that caught the sunlight and I could smell the scent of oil that told me that some were recently polished.

I most sincerely hope that one of these weapons wouldn't break against one of my personally forged iron daggers. They looked...too shiny for a warrior of my caliber.

He took notice of Louise and his back straightened. "Ah. Noble folk." he stated. "I have an excellent selection of small weapons for you, milady. I have daggers, kniv-"

She cut him off before he could ramble any further. "I am in the market for a blade for my..." Louise caught herself, unsure of what to call me.

"Bodyguard." I supplied for her, taking off my helmet and shaking my hair loose. Hopefully, that would be a word that we could use on outings where we procured supplies. "I am sworn to protecting my young charge with my life." I added, trying to pull together a background for myself without giving away my disposition as a human familiar. "I would like to see the best weaponry your shop has to offer."

He gave me a look over and his eyes appraised my set of armor, gauging its value and trying to find a price for it. My gaze told him otherwise. Don't...even...think about it. "Very well, sir." He bowed and walked (more accurately waddled) to the back, vanishing behind a curtain.

My senses were telling my that, by his greasy tone of voice, he was trying to con me. Great. It seemed that I would have to have a little demonstration before he brought out the truly excellent portion of his wares.

He returned, carrying a sheathed two-handed sword and he struggled under the weight of the blade. The sinking feeling in my stomach grew as I ran through my list of known weapon materials and their weights. Finding none, I went to a list of other materials that should never be used to forge weapons. I had a prime suspect of what the weapon was made of...

The shop-keep set it down on the counter and I made a gesture if I could hold it. He gave a nod and I picked up the sheath. Talos, it was heavy, but not impossible to lift.

"This blade was forged by master alchemists in the land of Germania!" he proclaimed proudly as I drew the sword out from its sheath. A dazzling yellow sheen from the blade only confirmed my suspicious as to the material that it was made of. "It's the best in the shop, sir! I have no doubt that it could cut through anything in the defense of your mistress."

"How much?" Louise asked, hoping to generate a conversation as I continued my appraisal of the sword.

He crossed his arms, haughtily, and stated, "Three thousand new gold!"

Out of the corner of my eye, she visibly blanched at that statement. "That could purchase an entire estate!" she exclaimed. I had a large wealth of experience in buying and forging swords but even though I had no idea just how much their "new gold" was worth, I could tell that he was asking for too much.

Now, how do I break to this fence that this blade is absolutely useless? Usually in situations like this, I had an average choice of three options: diplomacy, intimidation and a bit of a neutral mix of both. More often than not, diplomacy usually failed (but not from a lack of trying) and I was forced to fight my way out of a dirty spot, but it would have to do here. I had no intention of gaining a reputation as a "renegade from Cyrodiil".

I couldn't help but wonder if anyone went through these same situations as myself...*

Diplomacy would be sufficient enough of a motivator for him to bring out the goods. And a bit of a demonstration...

"This sword is useless." I stated simply.

The merchant looked affronted but he quickly changed his look when Louise looked downright furious at the thought of a merchant attempting -and failing- to rip us off.

"Gold." I said, tracing the length of the blade with my finger. "A pretty metal for jewelry, but it's easily malleable if one applies," - I put pressure on the blade and I heard the metal groan in protest as it warped slightly- "Enough pressure."

My hand and arm was a blur as I whipped it towards the fence's face. He flinched back and shielded himself but I stopped the blade at width the size of my fist away from his neck. I grunted, "It's also quite heavy for a warrior to lift and fight with. I do suppose that I could use it in battle but I would wear myself out swinging it like a berserker."

I pulled the sword away from him and I tapped the jewels on the pommel and the grip. "These would make holding onto the weapon hard, but not impossible. I will say that they are pretty ornaments," - the fence's face lifted in a bit of hope- "But compound the effect of the fatigue caused by the weight and the weapon would slip out of my hands and injure someone, leaving me vulnerable and weaponless on the battlefield." His face fell again.

I sheathed the sword and placed it back on the table. "Now look, sir." I said. "I will admit that this...piece is quite an eye catcher, but it would be better off in a collection." I gave him a small smile. "I think that I will be wanting a more suitable blade to wield." In the background of the shop, I heard the clanking of metal against metal. I turned to look, but I only saw a barrel of well-worn swords. Hmm...

Louise looked exultant at my counter to the greasy merchant's attempted swindle. "As you can see, my bodyguard has a large experience in weaponry. If you manage to find him a blade most suited to his needs, we'll be willing to forget your earlier attempt to push junk onto us." She paused and added as an afterthought, "There'd also be a small reward for you."

He instantly changed his stance and tone, looking me up and down as a serious warrior and fighter, not just an accessory to a noble that needed more glamour. "Very well. What kind of weapons do you prefer to wield?" he asked me politely.

"I'm a bit of a jack-of-all-trades weapon user," I stated honestly. Having a plethora of weapons to choose from in my void inventory did allow me to get some experience in wielding countless forms of armaments. "But while I do have a penchant for maces, I will admit that I am more of a swords person.

"I prefer longswords with a hand-and-a-half hilt to allow me to use both hands if the occasion calls. No decoration is needed and the cross-guard should be of normal length." I quickly recited. "Oh, and I have no preference to either double or single-edged blades." I added as an afterthought. In retrospect, I found that I rather liked the feel of single-edged blades. T'was easier to block strikes.

His eyes darted upward and I could tell that he was going through his mind to search for an item in his stock that would match my specifications.

From the back of my shoulder where I heard the sound of rustling steel, a voice broke out in rough, gritting laughter. "So, you finally have a customer who knows what he wants, eh, merchant?"

I turned around and slowly walked to the barrel with the cheaper wares. I looked down to see the swords and was jolted when I saw a voice ring out from one of them. "Whatsa matter, kiddo? Ya never seen a talking sword?"

I turned to Louise. "You're seeing this too, right?" Either the sword was actually talking, or I'm going mad with Sheogorath's influence spreading to me from Wabbajack.

"Well, go on!" it shouted and I saw a sword with a white hilt and golden pommel quiver in anticipation. "Don't just stand there, catching insects! Pick me up!"

"Uh...are you sure you don't mind?" I managed to ask, unsure of what else to say. Truth be told, I had never been in a situation with a talking sword in it. This had to be a device or artifact of the Prince of Madness. No other reason or logic at the moment would convince me otherwise that this was all a divine joke.

Best approach? Use respect and reverence.

"Your mistress was right when she said that you have experience with swords, kiddo. Go ahead," it encouraged me. Slowly and reverently, I grasped the handle firmly with one hand and the scabbard with the other and drew the blade out of the barrel. Noticing a tinge of rust, I shook it lightly to dislodge any way for the two to stick together and I drew a small portion of the blade.

It had a modest cross-guard and pommel with a single, white, razor sharp edge. It had no bevel, but felt light enough in my hand not to justify the need for one. The hilt itself was tied with old, but still sturdy rough cloth, providing a firm grip for me to hold onto. "Oh," it said, the quillion on the blade, clanking up and down in a manner not unlike a mouth. "You have an odd aura, kid, but you've got the runes! I'll tell you what! Get your mistress to toss some gold to the vendor and I'll let you be my partner!"

This had to be Sheogorath's doing. There was absolutely no other way of justifying a talking piece of refined steel.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"Is there a reason why you're drowning yourself in a tavern?" Louise asked me nervously, eying the patrons as I downed my fifth tankard of what swill passed as "beer". "We did get you a sword and the shop owner said you could use his smithy in the back. We should be heading back to the Academy..."

"A talking sword," I said, wiping beer from the corner of my mouth, "Is something that one of my lords would conceive as a weapon." Divines, even an Altmer couldn't get intoxicated over this piss that Tristan considered an alcoholic beverage. I set the empty metal tankard onto the bar and shouted, "Barkeep!"

The barkeep came scurrying over, wiping his hands with a dishrag. "Yes, milord?" he asked, noticing my charge next to me and the two blades, one strapped on a baldric on my back and at my hip. "Is there something I could get you? I know that I'm only a poor barkeep, but-"

Disgusted with the groveling, I waved the notion out of my face. "I'm not a noble, man, so you can drop all respectful pretenses." I gestured to the tankard. "What you call beer, though, isn't enough to get me drunk. Do you have anything stronger?"

Obviously relieved that I was just another commoner customer (that happened to be shepherding a noble), he nodded. "If you could give me a minute, I'll be going through the stocks in the cellar. I'm sure I have something to knock you off your stool." he said with a small smile.

I grinned. "Excellent. I am in the need drinking the night away."

The barkeep disappeared behind the curtain that lead to, presumably, the kitchens. I heard the sound of stools being pushed back and out of the corner of my eye, I saw four, slightly intoxicated, men lurch towards the bar, lecherous grins on their faces.

"Louise," I whispered urgently, lightly jabbing her in the shoulder. She looked at me, startled and slightly peeved at my sudden gesture. "We have company."

I swiveled around on my stool and faced the four drunkards. From the build of their bodies, I tagged them as farmers and laborers, muscles writhing under their cloth shirts and tunics.

"Good afternoon," I said cautiously, gauging their combat skills and sweeping around the room for any aid that might spring up if they went down. Most of the patrons were looking at us, some with their hands on the hilts of daggers or swords. Oh, Divines, not again...

One of them, obviously the leader of the gang, leered at Louise. "Oh, doesn't she just the cutest?" he sneered and she shied behind me as I stood up and threw my right arm out, shielding her. Addressing me, he said, "You're one lucky bastard, ain't you?"

Ignoring the verbal jab, I responded, "What do you want?"

The leader grinned at me. "We've just come from the fields and we couldn't help but notice the little pretty that you're guarding."

I pushed her back even further behind me, ignoring her indignant sputtering noises she made.

"Now," the leader began, and I was amazed that he could still talk though intoxicated, "We're men with...certain needs and you just happened to be guarding such a need..."

"Oi, horny!" one of the lackeys called out, obviously making a reference to the iron helmet I was wearing, and most of the bar exploded in raunchy laughter. I made a mental note to painfully kill the man for insulting the pride armor of Talos. "Give us the little noble whore and maybe we'll let you join in on the fun..."

Disgusted, I barred my teeth and snarled at them. "You better back off. I just bought a new sword and I'm itching to try it. But I don't want to get it dirty with the blood of scu-"

"FIREBALL!"

My eyes turned to Louise and I saw that she was livid with anger at the insults thrown at her honor. Her wand was pointed at the four men in front of me and her teeth was clenched in determination. I felt the rush of wind and the air around me as whatever magic she used on me was about to be unleashed upon these poor bastards.

There was a loud explosion and I hear yelps of pain as the four farmers were basted off of their feet. Two crashed into a table, knocking beer and mead over the patrons seated there. The bastard who made a comment about my helmet slammed his head into the foot of the stairs. It was an ugly sound. But the leader of the pack was blasted towards the door, smashing through the hinged wood and landing in the dirt outside of the tavern.

In the shocked silence that followed, I mumbled to Louise, "You've never been to a tavern, have you? Because you just did something that's similar to kicking a keystone down a mountain and should never be done in a tavern..."

She looked up at me, pride on her face from avenging her honor giving way to visible confusion. "So?" she replied haughtily, putting her hands on her hips. "What happens after you kick a keystone down a mountain?"

"Hey!" one of the patrons shouted. "She got Leander!"

"He's bleeding!" yelled the fellow who went to check on the fellow at the stairs.

"My beer!" a drenched man angrily retorted.

Several of the patrons stood up, anger written on their faces for the knockdown of their compatriots. I heard the sound of metal being unsheathed and daggers, knives and swords came into view, though some of the lesser-off men hefted up their fists.

I sighed and answered Louise's question, unease and horror growing on her face. "Avalanche."

"GET THEM!"

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_**__**** DOVAHKIIN**

I have been in more bar-brawls than I would like to be held accountable for. The whistle of bottles flying through the air, the sound of blows being rained on people, the clash of steel against drunk opponents and the sound of angry guests avenging the loss of their drinks were all too familiar to me.

I drew Derflinger out of the baldric strapped across my back and readied myself in a defensive stance. I felt the runes on my left hand flare brightly and I heard the enchanted blade cry, "Let's see what you can do, partner!"

Nodding grimly and sighing, I slashed at a tankard that was thrown at me. The metal mug was split in two and its thrower came at me with a chair. With a grunt of annoyance accompanying my swing, I sliced the chair and viciously slammed Derflinger's pommel into the man's windpipe. With a bubbly gurgle, he went down as I back-fisted him.

Now, most people immediately associate myself with the habit of killing everyone and everything that was coming at me with the intent of murder surrounding them. I would, for the most part, kill people with the intent to kill me, but this was a brawl brought on by cheap alcohol (and the ill-placed spell of a certain pink haired young lady) and, hopefully, any killing intent that had ahold of the patrons would be gone after a long night's rest, replaced by a sobering hangover.

In bar-fights, the typical scenario for me was one or two people to be facing off against a score of patrons. There were many things going on at the same time and I had to track every single movement, isolating targets and scanning for threats as time moved slowly with my warrior sense honed from countless fights. Right now, as I clubbed my earlier opponent, another irate farmer threw his knife at my chest while a man with the build of an ox charged me from the side.

I caught the dagger on my shield, bashing the edged projectile out of the air. Reversing my momentum, I brought Derflinger in a wicked slash across my charging opponent and he roared as a gash opened on his chest. He stumbled and crashed into a table. I made sure that my strike wasn't fatal, but enough to put him out of commission.

A shiver ran up my spine, colder than the breath of a Frost dragon, and I instinctively lurched to the side to avoid a wine bottle that came whistling from behind my head. I mentally cursed myself for not taking off my helmet and inadvertently blinding my side vision. The holder of the bottle, a young man no older than fifteen summers, made for another strike, bringing his arm back for a hay-maker strike. Too bad it showed me what he was going to do and I already had the location of it's strike and how to counter it within a heartbeat.

Louise seemed to have other plans for dealing with a sneak attack and it appeared that she was finally ready to start fighting. Her right leg pulled back and slammed the young man between his legs. An audible _crunch _was heard and both sides of the fight instinctively winced as we empathized being kicked where the grace of Akatosh didn't shine. Thank the Divines for incorporating a groin plate into the armor designs of old.

The remaining combatants decided that a group rush would be more than enough to overwhelm us with sheer mass and numbers. The group of five charged towards us, bellowing oaths and curses to their god and myself, respectively. I sighed as I readied a Shout to match the opponents and I shoved Louise behind me as she tried to raise her wand.

Weapon...Hand...Defeat...

I drew a breath and I let out a furious roar, putting the force of my soul behind the single Shout. "ZUN...HAAL VIIK!"

The rush of air swept through the entourage of patrons and they all let out a cry or gasp of surprise when the weapon they were using, be it sword, dagger, knife, tankard, chair-leg, table-leg or chair, was wrenched from their hands. They staggered back from the force of the wind and some of the more inebriated fighters lost their footing and fell onto the wooden floor.

I advanced onwards to them, Derflinger's tip trailing the floorboards as it lay seemingly silent in my loose stance. They backed away rapidly, fear taking root and growing on their faces as I approached their somewhat ram-shamble party. I reached into my back pocket and I felt all eyes trailing my movement as they expected me to draw another weapon to "punish the insolent commoners that dared attack [me] and [my] noble mistress."

Reaching through the contents of my void inventory, I grasped the handle of what I was looking for, the one item that would end this conflict in one decisive motion.

I pulled out a bottle of Nord Mead.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_Louise's mind was fuzzy as Dove carried her into her room and gently set her down onto the bead. But in her addled state, she was brimming with a barely contained joy. She had done it! She wasn't a failure of a mage after all! She had summoned a familiar that was even cooler than a dragon and a manticore combined! She admitted to herself that her initial treatment towards him was...less than cordial, but it turned out all right in the end!_

_She briefly shuddered at the destruction he could wield and how she was lucky not to be on the receiving end._

_**It seems that my warrior has managed to avoid bloodshed today...**  
_

_There. It was that...that THING from her dream last night that had plagued her with dreams of her familiar. Although, it seemed that there were more to these dreams as their..._partnership_ continued._

_**And he used it by mixing together a health potion with Nord Mead and distributing the drink amongst the combatants,**_ _the voice gave a seductive chuckle that made her shiver. **Sheogorath and Stendarr would be pleased...the doddering fool would laugh at the ending and the uptight prick would be relieved that he had shown them mercy...**_

_The mists of her mind parted and a woman dressed in flowing robes and a tri-tipped staff in her hands made her way forth and regarded Louise with the countenance of a pet owner to a particularly troublesome cat._

_**You have only seen a fraction of the power he wields, child...had you seen him in his younger summers, he would not have held back...**_

_Wait. He was holding back?! But he was so strong! Even a talking sword was taken aback with the expertise of his combat, for Brimir's sake!_

_**I do believe that he interrupted you during the vision I gave you last night...**_

_Huh?_

_**It is time to continue, young magus...his true power will come soon enough...**_

_Louise barely managed to get out an indignant squeak before her vision lurched and she fell through the ground of her dream..._

_She was standing on a mountain ruin, a shield hefted in her left and a sword drawn in her right. A blizzard milled atop the rock but she could see the large arch shaped ruins of an ancient structure but the rest was lost to the grey skies and white snow of the storm._

_A whistling sound alerted her and her shield was brought up to catch an arrow aimed towards her chest. Her legs moved of their own accord and the cold blade screamed through the air as a fountain of red was opened from the body of the archer that shot her. She bashed the face of the other marksman and slammed the rim of the shield into her foe's temple, the sound of a neck being broken easily startling her._

_The scene faded out and she was in the ruins of the ancient structure. She gave a small shriek as a massive spider dropped down from the ceiling as she was cutting a man out of a tangled web. A rotund bottle was in her hand before she could comprehend it and with a quick motion, she poured the contents of the bottle onto the sword. As the arachnid made move to strike, she bashed the legs of the monster away from her and she drove the blade between the eyes of the eight-eyed monster, rolling back as the monster thrashed about in its death throes._

_The man she freed tried to run, shouting something about a Golden Claw and treasure in the temple. But as he turned the corner, Louise hefted up her hands and was shocked to see the elements of storm writhing within her palms. Compressing the two powers together and unleashing them at the fleeing coward, the lightning arced towards the thief and he gave a shrill cry of terror. _

_The scent of roasted flesh became present as she lifted the Claw out of his pack..._

_But a stirring to the side caught her attention and she stifled a scream at the corpse-thing that was rising from a bier in the wall. Cold, blue eyes met her own and it drew a wicked axe that had not been dulled by the years of slumber in the tomb. She roared at it, not in her own voice, and she charged to meet her opponent. Her foot stepped on something that gave way from under her and her instincts screamed at her to roll back and damn the consequences. A spiked wall shot out from the side and caught the undead thing in its edged nails. It writhed and shouted in an ancient tongue but fell limp and died, its arms going slack and dropping the axe._

_After more run-ins with the undead warriors, a stone door lay before her, symbols of animals etched in three rings. She pulled out the claw and after briefly squinting at it, she turned the rings to match the sequence on the item. Pressing the claw into a plate that had to be a key-hole, she rotated it and the door responded, realigning the animals and pulling itself down to let her forth._

_A massive wall stood, upraised on a platform of stone. She did not know why, but something about the wall drew her towards it, calling to her in whispers of an ancient tongue. Inscribed on the wall, characters of claws and circles were glowing and as she drew near, it swirled towards her, leaving the wall and filling her head with naught but a single word-_

_FUS._

_A cracking sound to her left alerted her to a sarcophagus that hosted another of those undead warriors. As it rose from its death-bed [A/N: I should be shot for this pun], she rained blow upon blow on its armored form, but her strikes seemed to have little effect. Raising its horned helm fully and glaring at her with eyes of an angry blizzard, it shouted at her, a wave of energy blasting her off of the platform._

_"**FUS RO!"**_

_She fell into the small ravine, sputtering and spitting out water. The undead lord jumped into the small river and approached her with a giant broadsword hefted with his two, skeletal hands. Remembering a scroll that she had found, she grabbed it from her pouch and she felt energy leave her body and go into the scroll. Her left hand flared to life with a fire that could put Kirchie's to shame and with a shout of triumph, she hurtled the sphere of flames at the undead lord. It exploded on it and it staggered from the impact._

_Using this to her advantage, she propped herself up and brought her blade whistling towards the neck of the undead lord. _

_And so Louise dreamed of a land where the undead patrolled the ruins of the dead and where mysterious ruins were scattered across the entirety of the verdant landscape..._

* * *

***Omake!**

_Because free-roaming, choice-based ("Ah, yes, 'Choices'...") are that awesome!_

_Across many dimensions, Adam Jansen sneezed as he was talking with Wayne Haas at the front desk of the police station, using his CASIE augs to find a non-violent way to enter the station's morgue._

_Across many galaxies, Commander Shepard sneezed as she was trying to find the most suitable method for dealing with Jacob's father._

_Both didn't know as to what brought upon their sudden launch of airborne and nasal aerosol, but they were subconsciously comforted by the fact that they could still sneeze. Sneezing, a typical trait shared by humans, was something that the two of them thought they had lost when they had become part machine. Deep down, the fact that they could still sneeze made both cyborg soldiers feel more human._

* * *

******If you have any comments, threats, flames, criticisms, etc. please don't hesitate to PM me or post a review. I will accept it with my head held low and my body and mind humble. Just try not to overly curse me if I did anything overtly stupid.**

******I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	9. The Rumbling Earth: The Third Tremor

OK...it turns out that the "Rumbling Earth" arc may stretch out a bit longer than I may have intended, but I will balance this out with bigger and longer chapters. I'm guesstimating that there should be about four more (if I'm lucky) to go until the next arc, "The Gathering of War". Please bear with me as Eleventh grade is being such a bitch.

_Now, I'm going to angrily rant-**TALK** about the DLC for Skyrim, Hearthfire.  
_

_[Deep breath] WHY THE F*** IS BETHESDA RELEASING HEARTHFIRE WHEN THEY HAVEN'T EVEN PUT DAWNGUARD FOR PS3?! I MEAN, JUST WHAT THE F***?! AND ADOPTION?! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST BANG YOUR SPOUSE (unless your spouse is of the same sex. To those for whom this applies to, I apologize for my crass language) AND MAKE BABIES?! THIS DLC IS BASICALLY "SKYRIM- HOME DEPOT DO-IT-YOURSELF"!_

_Shoving my rant aside, I will try to incorporate Hearthfire as well into this story...maybe even have Dove build himself a house in Tristain? Probably somewhere far away in the mountains or forest would be a suitable home for him to live in...FAR AWAY FROM THE [Italian] INQUISITION. And yes, the house will be BIGAH! No more limit for whatever shit I can build! Huzzah!_

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes!**_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (In case you forgot)**_

Name: Dovahkiin (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities (EDIT: Except for cities that require participation in the Civil War)

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (63), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (75)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (93)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (97), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set, Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Dawnguard DLC: Dawnguard.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED as he advances his skils. Curbstomping FTW, jk!)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

_Addressing the readers__-_

ponzomut: I am very hesitant about adding modded spells (Did you see the Unlimited Blade Works one on 'Tube?), though I am willing to have him create his own magics.

ultra91: Ah, titnuggets! I forgot Adam Jansen as a potential candidate for the poll!

Guest: (Forgot this) If anything, the purpose of all these FoZ crossovers is to make the situation be everything BUT Saito! So no, Dove's familiar exhibition shin-dig will go much differently than the novel/manga/anime/whatever. Seriously, thank you for the criticism. It helps me improve my storyline and fill in plot holes!

Brad W: None of the Daedra or Aedra will be making contact with Louise at this point, save for Vaermina. However, in the next chapter, I'm gonna have Dov take his Conjuration steroids and flood his mana into the "Summon Daedra Spell" (HINT HINT).

Forget Logic. Punch Stuff- That is the personal motto of Dov at some times in the game, though it's more like "smash and bash stuff".

The Flying Frog: Thank you for the detailed description! I will be sure to use it as my Dovahkiin sided with the Dawnguard and eliminated the vampire threat.

Farmer Kyle: Yeah. I can understand, but there are still challenges that will prove to be harder than the sorry excuse for a noble he fought with. I'm very sure that they don't have huge-ass stone golems in Skyrim, let alone Tamriel, right?

RCN: The stereotypical medieval bar-brawl tends to get really nasty, especially when there are nobles and bodyguards that are patrolling the bar. That's quite unfortunate about the hospital. Where I go for vacation, there's an old Anglican cemetery next to the ONLY hospital in the area. Talk about depressing.

Laluzi: Thank you!

BloodTrinity: Yes! I am alive! But did you make sure the scene was safe (shameless CPR reference)?

**On a side note:**

*I've been trying to find a suitable background soundtrack to accompany reading this story. Please help me search.

* I had to go to Youtube and watch the Dragonsreach scene play out because I forgot about some of the dialogue. The length of sorting out through endless walkthroughs was exacerbated by all the political BS that's been spamming up on Youtube. I hate election year.

* This is the chapter where it's time to bust out the Dragonborn theme! You should know where to insert it, else you a) Never played Skyrim before or b) too lazy to open a tab.

**_DISCLAIMER- _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru. **

* * *

**Chapter Nine  
****The Rumbing Earth: The Third Tremor**

"Our spell-sword is here!"

My eardrums cringed as the entire kitchen staff gave a loud cheer at the Head Chef's proclamation that shook the foundations of the Academy to the floor. I mentally revisited the paths that I had walked and tried to remember how I ended up in the kitchen.

I had tried to wake Louise up at dawn but she moaned something about a headache and a hammer. I recalled that after the fight at the tavern, the men that I passed the bottle of mead that I laced with a health potion seemed to be in a better and more peaceful state of mind. Thank you Nords, for making a drink that took away your stamina and energy to swing a chair. We were making such a ruckus with our apologies, that the barkeep came from the back with an aged bottle of alcoholic drink, wondering what was going on.

After I inconspicuously used the Voice of the Emperor, I managed to calm him down and convince the retired archer to set down the crossbow he kept under the bar. Surprisingly, the men that I fought with agreed to pay for part of the damage and, to Derflinger and Louise's amusement, I was to cover the rest. I think that they were a bit cowed by the fact that a little noble girl could cause explosions and less scared of me, the commoner that they could identify themselves with.

I had no money of their land and I wasn't ready to scrub dishes just yet. I offered to sing for the patrons of the bar in the next night and if they liked what they heard (and bought more drinks and food because of it) he was willing to forgo money. He did ask for collateral to make sure I wasn't going to forget. In all honesty, I was quite tempted to fork over the enchanted sword that Louise bought me but in the end, I decided to keep it and offer my lyre instead as a collateral and reminder for me to return. If the talking sword was an artifact of Sheogorath, I had no intention of letting some poor bastard get afoul of it, lest the Prince of Madness hear of the "trade" and punish us for such heretical business.

Louise had managed to get a small cup from amidst the rubble and she asked me for a tip of the Nord Mead. I gave her a constrained look but I relented and gave her enough mead for one swallow. After said one swallow...she collapsed onto the floor, a bawdy expression scrawled on her face.

It seemed that my little summoner was unable to hold her mead down. And she was now experiencing her first hangover.

Restraining the urge to laugh at her bedside, I had given her a bottle with a stamina potion and told her to drink the entire contents to the bottom. The stamina potion would help her regain some of her strength, but I had to turn to a different source to alliviate her headache.

In my personal experiences with hangovers, I found that vegetables, fish and eggs were the best foods to take to advert some of the more serious ailments that came with said hangover. I did have eggs and a skillet carefully stored away in my void inventory but I was lacking a fire to cook them.

With no desire to start a cooking blaze in my young master's bedroom, Derflinger and I made our way to the Dining Hall. It was early in the morning and the sky was still coated with trails of blue amidst the growing hues of gold and yellow. I had thought that we would be alone in our quest for a fire, but one of the cooks saw me and after gathering his friends, they dragged me into their kitchen where the staff had been assembled to greet me.

I distantly remember seeing some of the kitchen staring out of the windows and Siesta had most certainly been present in the audience. No doubt that the story about Guchie's thrashing at the hands of "Louise Valliere's commoner familiar" had spread throughout the entire castle but I was still surprised by the posotive response from my fellow laymen. But if a tale could spread like fire in a small school within a day, I had no idea about how fast gossip and rumors could spread in the outside world and, by extension, the border lying countries.

I had no desire to become a target for several nations...yet.

At any rate, I was currently held "captive" in the school kitchens, a glass of their finest wine in my left hand and earnest worshipers vigorously shaking my right.

"I was just having a little tussle with the kid," I protested towards Marteau, the head chef whom I met yesterday. "You honestly don't have to do this."

"Nonsense!" he dismissed with a shake of his head. "You had the courage to stand up to the noble and expose his little _tyrst_ to the two young ladies he was seeing!" Apparently in Marteau's mind, "standing up" to a noble meant "humiliating and breaking his arm in front of his peers". Noble distain towards the people must have been worse than I thought in this land if they reacted jubilantly to my _spar_ with Guchie. I mean, sure Ulfric struck me as a man with a spear stuck DEEP up his ass, but I didn't see him abusing the people living in Windhelm. Balgruuf was also a fair man and I didn't see many aesthetic decorations in his longhouse, save for the occasional moose head and coat-of-arms.

The blade strapped to my back gave a clanking laugh. "People never change, partner!" he...it said? Should I be calling Derflinger "he" or "it"? Well, given the fact that he/it was a talking sword with the dry humor that only an...experienced man could ever talk with, I guess that it would be alright to address the blade as "him".

I sighed as I took a deep swing of the Tristain wine. Hmm. Not bad at all. At least compared to their beer, the wine that the vinyards of Tristain produced was of an excellent quality. Truly these nobles had good taste and were squeezing the peasants dry because of it. Damn rich bastards...

"Um...Sir Dove?" a timid voice piped up to the side and I glanced at Siesta holding a bowl of some sort of broth in it. "This is the soup that the students here at the academy eat. I cooked it myself and I hope that youwouldlikesome!" she rushed to finish, thrusting the bowl towards me with an embarassed expression growing on her face.

I gave a wry grin and gently took it from the nervous girl's hands. The steam from the soup waffed towards Derflinger and he began to rattle in his sheathe. "That smells really, really good, girlie!" he shook with excitement as he opened himself up to let the vapors into...himself. So now he could smell...

Sheogorath had to have been here. He HAD to be. There is no other logic for a talking, magical sword with a keen olfactory sense.

Shaking the thoughts of the prince of madness from my head, I took a small sip of the steaming broth. Flavors exploded into my mouth and my eyes *almost* began to water. By the gods, this was more delicious than anything I had ever cooked, be it beside a campfire, my city estates or my mountain home kitchen. If Siesta had opened a tavern in Skyrim, there would be no end to her customers, coming to taste her cooking and to see and talk to a beautiful young lady.

Some men of Skyrim preferred to appreciate a lady's beauty rather than to "take part in it", per se...and I was proud to be part of them and never stoop as low enough to hire the night ladies of Sanguine.

I upturned the entire contents of the bowl into my mouth and I drained the broth in one gigantic gulp that would put a Nord to shame. I turned to a shocked Siesta and I gave her a bright smile. "Your cooking is fit for the deities of my country, Siesta," I said as I handed her the bowl back. "And I am truly blessed to partake in a glorious meal. If you will excuse me, I have to go cook my little master a meal to relieve her of her headache. I will most certainly be back for more. Thank you."

As I began to crack the eggs open, the sound of a bowl being dropped onto the floor and a very shrill "KYAAAAAAAAAAA!" in the background resonated clearly through my ears.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"Drink it slowly, Louise." I coaxed her gently as she began to swallow the mixture. Louise made a face as she struggled not to gag at the taste. I couldn't blame her. I just mixed together ingredients that should have never been mixed in order to banish a natural and common trait in an inebriated person's morning. But I had little doubt that it went against the laws of nature.

She blanched after she was finished and shot me a glare that would rend the soul from a hare.

"Oi," I defended, aiming a finger to her. "It was you who decided to drink the Nord Mead, not me."

Derflinger whistled in his sheathe (HOW in all that is holy and sacred did he do that?!) and barked, "Ha! Back in my day, girlie, even a seven year-old stripling could hold his or her liquor! Your people sure have grown soft over the years..."

Unexpected emotion clogged my chest as the talking piece of steel gave an accurate description of one of Skyrim's stereotypical..._characteristics._

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_____Several hours later..._

"Are you sure you want to come to class, Dove?" Louise asked me as I pulled up a chair for her to sit in, which she promptly did. Despite the concoction relieving her of her hangover, she looked slightly ill. It couldn't be that I was attending her class with her, right?

I grunted an affirmation as I took a seat next to her. "Yes. Ignoring my little spar with Guchie, who I do believe is still recovering in the Academy's ill house, I still have no knowledge of how the magic of your land works." Knowledge was power. Enough said. And since I was to be teaching here in a few butchered weeks, Divines, their calendars were horrifically inaccurate to me, it would be good to have a basic function of their magics.

The sword gave no response but it was wriggling in its sheathe. Good; the leather bonds were holding together. Maybe it would've been more conspicuous to have a talking sword rather than one of my Daedric blades? Either way, I really didn't need more rumors fed into the Academy's plethora of folklore. Though Derflinger reluctantly agreed, I sent a prayer to the Divines that the Prince of Madness would take this as amusing and _not_ strike me down for mistreating one of his artifacts.

No one could convince me otherwise that this was not the handiwork of Sheogorath.

The rest of the class filled in gradually. They took seats as far away from the two of us as humanly possible. Several of the students, finding no room to maneuver, were forced to take seats within two empty chairs beside us. Divines, the expressions they wore on their faces were worth over a thousand Septims when I gave them all a bawdy wave and a smile resembling a white Frost Troll. Power to the people and all, you spoiled brats.

The only one who seemed to have no trouble sitting near me was the owner of the blue dragon. She merely pulled up a chair next to me and sat herself down, opening up an old tome and began to peruse over its contents. I do suppose that I should ask for her name, but I would wait until she saw herself fit to introduce herself to me.

A heavy set lady with brown hair and the eyes of a kindly matron, who I assumed to be the teacher, stepped behind the wooden desk and greeted the students. "Good morning, students!" she said with a warm smile. Her eyes laid on me and she paused with a slight frown on her face as she had trouble designating me. "And..."

"Sir Dove," I replied with a small smile of my own as I pulled back the hood of the Archmage's Robes, revealing my face to her. "I'm just here like the other familiars to guard their masters-" I briefly looked around the room out of the corner of my eyes and I saw several of the students cow visible in their seats- "And observe the workings of your country's magic. Please treat me like another _commonplace_ familiar." I saw Louise blush at the implication and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"Very well," she said before turning to her class. "Now, I hope that you remember what we were studying last class. We're going to briefly review the last chapter and move on to the next one concerning earth."

It turned out that her brief review extended to forty minutes and the students were either trying to ignore my presence and concentrate or struggle to stay awake. I couldn't blame the brats; they were unused to getting up early. It turned out that in their system of magic, there were five elements that a spell-caster could be born into. There was those who could use the Earth to defend themselves as were there magi that manipulated the Air itself against a foe, a feat that I found to be impressive. Water users were mainly healers though there were some instances where they did possess offensive attacks and by natural contrast, the users of fire destroyed everything in their way using force to accomplish their goals.

The teacher, who turned out to be named Mrs. Chevreuse, mentioned the existence of a fifth element called Void magic, which I remember Louise telling me before our religious "debate" at breakfast. Apparently, only the Founder Brimir could use it and he had lived over six thousand summers ago to unite the humans against the and Void magi were never seen again. Huh. And I was so interested in seeing what all branches of magic could do. What a shame.

Now the lady had shifted her thoughts to an element that I had trodden for thousands of leagues across Skyrim. "The magic of Earth is very important magic that governs the creation of all matter." she stated as she pointed to a corner of the star on the board. "If it wasn't for Earth magic," she continued, "We wouldn't be able to produce or process necessary metals, raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also involve much more work.

I had an inclination to agree with her but I found myself in a juxtaposition as I thought if said magic was performed in Skyrim. If we had Earth Magic, there would be no need for farmers, laborers or any form of manual worker with mages to extract minerals and harvest their crop. And since Skyrim was currently in a turmoil, all of the strength that had they accumulated from laboring would be useful in swinging a sword or mace to defend their towns and family's. I sighed at the stupidity of such a thing. The Empire would've banned earth magic and deemed it "too dangerous" or by another definition, propagating on the superstitions of the farmers and simple folk of Skyrim.

"In this manner, the magic of the Earth element is intimately related to everyone's life." She concluded with a flourish of her teaching stick.

I finished taking notes on Earth and I was reaching for a blank scroll, but I caught something in the corner of my eye that jolted the Blessings out of me.

"Louise." I whispered and lightly nudged her.

"What?" she hissed back, frantically scribbling notes while looking at my immaculate writing with envy.

"What in Akatosh's name is that girl doing?!"

She glanced over in the direction I was staring, and immediately understood the unease that had started to seep into my voice with every passing second. Kirche, the literal red-head that accosted me outside of Louise's bedroom yesterday, had her head propped up on one hand at an angle, whilst using the other to fiddle with the already plunging neckline of her blouse. She was also staring at me with a flushed face, dilated irises passing over my body.

"I don't know," Louise finally said, managing to pull herself together after a few moments. "And I don't want to."

I nodded. Kirche had noticed that I was looking at her and her tongue darted out to run across her lips sensuously. "Neither do I," I decided, and we both in unison turned back to the lecture, determined to ignore the disturbing woman a few isles over from us.

Mara...was this really necessary so early in the day? And in a public place?

"Now, a little demonstration!" The teacher's voice drew me back to the lecture as she pointed her wand to a clump of clay that was sitting on the table. With a small flash of light, the clay _transformed_ into a different element, taking on a golden hue and shining with a brilliant luster that managed to catch the eyes of every observer in the room. By the Divines, this was not what I was expecting at all when the idea of Earth mages appeared in my head.

A cacophony of voices erupted across the room at the appearance of the element as the students momentarily forgot about my presence and focused on the glowing lump of metal on the table.

"Founder, look at that!"

"The clay turned into gold!"

"Amazing!"

"Is-is that real gold?"

I raised my hand slightly. "If you don't mind me interrupting, Ma'am," I began politely, causing several students to visibly jump at the sound of my voice, "The metal that is currently on the table is that of brass, not gold. It shines a bit too brilliantly for it to be gold."

She gave a warm smile and nod at my appraisal of the element. "He is correct. This is brass, an alloy of copper and zinc. I am only a triangle-class mage," She explained to the class and I picked up my quill and resumed taking notes. Apparently, the most powerful mages were classified as "square", as they could utilize all of the elements, save for Void. Those who could only use three were "triangle" class, whereas two elements classified a noble as "line" and one labeled someone a "dot" mage.

I had to admit that I was impressed at this point with the diversity of the magic. I mean, I could transmute my own ore, but the magics of the land were more restricted and only high-level mages could attempt at writing their own spells. I remember trying to weave a spell that would allow me to fly in the air. In short, it blew up on me faster and harder than a fire rune inscribed on the floor.

"Now, even though most of you are only at 'dot' level at this point in your education," She continued while scanning the room, "Transmuting clay into glass is something that even a Dot mage could do. Now I need a volunteer...Ms. Vallière! Would you please demonstrate?"

I began to suspect that something was awry when every student in the class gasped in unison and began to shrink under the table. Kirche was shaken from...whatever state of mind she had sunken into and stood up, slamming her hands against the desk. "Just a second, Professor. You can't possibly mean to have Louise the Zero demonstrate, can you?"

There's that title again. I had a vague idea that it was derogatory in nature, but every teasing name had an ounce of truth to it. Guiche had had one too. I was beginning to get the impression that titles were pretty common in these parts. Guiche's name, "The Bronze", had indicated that he was a metal crafter. I wonder what a title of 'zero' could mean?

"Yes, I most certainly mean to," the professor said, sounding a little aggrieved that her choice in students seemed to be garnishing such a reaction. I could hardly blame her.

"But Louise…" Kirche started and was cut off by my little master.

"I'll do it," she declared, standing up suddenly, looking determined and a little resigned.

I noticed the blue-haired girl next to me stand up at this pronouncement and wordlessly leave the room. Kirche's eyes darted towards me, and then she apparently decided to follow the blue haired girl, who was still reading as they exited. The other students began to sink lower into their chairs, apparently seeing Louise as the bigger of two evils in our partnership at the moment.

The moment she began to chant, I felt the air and mana around the room begin to warp in response to the little mage's words. It felt...cold and clammy to my senses and the air began to whisper as it began to gather at the tip of her wand. I suddenly remembered that this was the strange magic that she had targeted me with on her Summoning Day.

Have you ever felt the feeling where you knew something was going to go horribly wrong, but there was no way you could stop it? I myself had been the victim of countless of these incidents, ranging from a potion exploding in my face as I mixed together ingredients to the string of my crossbow snapping and ending with the portal that pulled me into this world. Despite my inherent lack of good luck, undoubtedly caused by my person being the butt of many a Divine joke, I had a feeling that one of the worsts was yet to come.

Instinct took over my body and I charged the mana in my hands, desperately visualizing the desired result of my spell-weaving. The moment the last words of Louise's chant left her lips, I brought my hands up and released the mana. An azure shield of mana flared to life in front of me, the greatest of all my wards of the Restoration branch of my magics that could absorb the most damage from any attack.

It wasn't a moment too soon as the air caught fire and the winds exploded with the force of an angry god...or in Mara's case, with the force of a goddess during her "time of the month".

Oddly, whenever the situation included me, this was the force behind all the women that I was up against.

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

I was still coughing as I helped Louise sweep up the remains of the classroom, expelling dust from my lungs while throwing ruined furniture out the window. Despite the fact that all the windows and doors were open and a small breeze was blowing, dust still managed to cling to my Archmage robes and black beard. It would take a while for me to scourge the dirt from my clothes and my manly facial hair.

The blast from Louise's magic had tested the barriers of my Ward to the extreme as I had struggled to shield myself and any student behind me from debris and shards of wood. After the dust settled, my little master was standing in the epicenter of the blast, white blouse charred and skirt charred in a way that revealed...a lack of curves in a suspicious manner that had to have been from the divine intervention of a perverted god.

Although it may have been my imagination, I believe I heard a small sniffle from the pink-haired girl as Colbert and I carried out Mrs. Chevreuse, the former having arrived to investigate the trail of smoke from the earth tower, the latter having fainted from the blast. I inwardly sighed as I threw out the last piece of a broken chair out the window. What was it with me and helping and/or consoling kids younger than me?

After I deemed the room sufficiently clean for the servants to take over, I marched Louise to her room for a change of clothes and when she was done, to a bench outside. I opened a bottle of Cliff Racer, hand-brewed by Talen-Jei, the Argonian connoisseur of exotic beverages who made a living in Riften. I pulled out two tankards from my void inventory and poured her a small amount of the drink. I was sure that this drink would suffice as a pick-me-up and as the beverage passed through her lips, I saw her face considerably brighten.

"I figured that you needed that," I quipped simply as I took a swing myself. "And I need to have a word with you about that magic you've been using."

Her face visibly fell. Ouch. I guess this was a sensitive subject. "Last night at the bar," I began slowly, narrating the events with a careful tone, "You said the word 'fireball' and the explosion from the spell threw that poor farmer twenty feet back. I had assumed that your spell was intended to do that, but after this morning's explosion..."

"Fine!" She snapped, glaring at me. "I've never once managed to cast a spell properly. A while back, Kirche laughed and said that since my success rate is zero and my element affinity is unknown, I should be called 'Louise the Zero'." Ah. That did have an ounce of logic as to the origin of her nickname, "The Zero".

I scoffed, wiping some of the beverage from the corner of my mouth. "That is unfortunate," I stated simply as I poured another round of the drink. I suddenly remembered that my sword was still "gagged", per se. I promptly took the piece of cloth off it and mumbled my apologies, still reverently treating the blade like an artifact of Sheogorath.

"Well, I would be normally complaining about my treatment," Derflinger quipped, "But I am more curious as to the girl's magic, partner. I feel like I've felt it before...was it the time with the maid, the broom and the candlestick?" He trailed off as he ran through his...erm..._memories_ that I had no need to inspect any further.

"Putting Lord Derflinger's memory to the side," I quickly interjected, lest the sword list more memories that were all too appropriate for an artifact of Sheogorath to have, "I must say that Kirchie's overtly large breasts are obscuring her to the truth."

Louise snorted. "What truth? That she cannot see me cast magic because she overly flaunts those melons of hers that she claims makes her a real and mature woman?" She snapped back at me with a ferocity that I had not seen before when we had tal- Oh dear. It seemed that my little master was a bit jealous by the size of Kirchie's "sword-sheath-ers"...Sheogorath, THAT one had to have come from you, with a hint of Mara mixed in with it.

Is there anyone in the Divine Pantheon that I can trust not to tie me to a bed?!

"No wonder you were in a state of shock yesterday when I said I could do magic," I said as I slid the tankard across the table. "Even your familiar has more skill in magic then you." Okay, looking back on that comment, I felt that I should have jammed by gauntlet into my mouth, you stupid, insensitive lug.

"Yes," Louise said, and despite her obvious immense effort to stay stoic, her voice was laced with an undertone of bitterness. "Even my familiar has more magic than I."

I sighed as I took another long swing from the tankard. "If what happened in the classroom counts as a fact, you are, without a doubt, the most powerful magus on the entire campus." I concluded with my fist hammering on my open palm.

She snorted angrily and slammed her tankard on the table. "Don't patronize me, familiar!" she snapped, in her anger slipping back into her previous form of address for me. I ignored it; she was obviously distressed. "I don't need the likes of you lying to try and cheer me up! I.."

"Look," I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "Did you see what your explosion did to that farmer and to the classroom?"

"Yes! What about it?!"

"You, little master, have power," I said bluntly, jabbing my finger in the air to emphasize my point. "Despite what limited spell-work that I have seen since I have arrived here, your magic has almost unlimited potential to be so much more than it already is. The fop told me that the skill of the familiar reflects the skill of the mage," I mused as I remembered the words Guchie used the night before I Shouted him into the sky. "And I have no doubt that you have skill, Louise. All you need is some instruction sent your way."

The bell of the tower rang, signaling the start of noon-time meal. With a quick reach into my void inventory, I pulled out what was to be my lunch. After saying a short prayer to the Divines, I began to take part in noon day meal. A slice of bread was halfway to my lips when I noticed Louise staring at me with the intensity of a growing storm, leaving no noise save for Derflinger, muttering, "...the chains or was it when the angel statue began to weep?"

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"Teach me." She finally said to me as I was taking a swing from a phial of water. "Teach me how to use my magic, Dove."

I coughed slightly, causing a small rivulet of water to dribble down my beard. After corking the phial, I looked at her with a quizzical expression on my face. "I'm sorry?"

"Teach me!" Louise repeated with a determined expression on her face. "You said yourself that you're the Headmaster of a school of magic! And you obviously have to be a powerful teacher to warrant such a title!"

"Archmagus," I corrected, unconsciously straightening my robes and patting the dust off of my shoulder. "Though you saw that my magic is different from yours, you still desire for me to teach you?"

She nodded vigorously. "Every teacher I've had always written me off as a failure. You saw something that they didn't and even I, with my knowledge, haven't seen it yet!" I chortled quietly to myself. "I have no doubt that you can! You are, after all, the familiar I summoned."

I gave a small laugh, but my expression turned deadly serious. "I am willing to teach you, but my only teachers, little master, were pain and death and they were not the nicest of instructiors," I said softly as I ran my hand alongside the scar on my face. "Do not get me wrong," I quickly assured her as I saw her eyes widen at the implied meaning, "I will try to find other ways but I must push you to the extremes if I am to teach you what I know; the only thing your magic is currently good at is combat, which I am a master at.

"But don't worry," I said, giving her a roguish half-grin, "I will try my utmost to find your elemental affinity. Right now you use it like a hammer, uncontrollably, unpredictably, without any real skill." Her face visibly fell at that. "But I will teach you how to use it like a knife, to probe the weaknesses of the enemy and slide a blade in between his ribs. I can teach you how to use this magic of yours that while others deem as a failure, I deem as the seed of a great beginning." Her face rose again.

"You are the most powerful, but not the best. But if you can focus that power, you can become the most dangerous and feared mage that ever walked the lands. I will help you focus that power, if you are willing to learn."

There was a notable and profound period of silence that accompanied the end of my proclamation. "I like that idea," Louise said. There was a slightly dangerous smile on her face now, and she was nodding. "I like it a lot."

"I am glad to know," I said as I stood up and clapped my hands together as I my thoughts about the proper training method ran through my head. "We shall begin after your last class. Report to the edge of the forest; I await your arrival."

"Was it the one with the- no, that elf girl was too thin, even by their standards..."

___**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_Louise's muscles ached as she eased herself under the covers of her bed. Her body and mind quickly embraced the exhaustion and she immediately fell asleep. How in Brimir's name did holding up a shield while her familiar smashed her with a sword improve her magic?! He had made his reason clear that it was to put her to the brink of exhaustion in order to see "how much mana you have", but what did that even mean?! That was no reason for such harsh training. She had a gut feeling that was telling her that she was going to regret this, but she knew that she had to suck it up and bear with it._

**_You are still unaware the brutal extent of the life that my servant has lived, little girl..._**

_And again, the mysterious woman swirled into existence, using the staff she wielded to brush away the fog of her dream. _Who are you?_ she asked. _

_The dark aura of the woman flared to life, enveloping and causing her to instinctively tremble. Visions swhirled past her head, as fast as lightning but slow enough to let her see visions of her taunting classmates, her teachers, her elder sister, all ridiculing her for being a failure in magic. But they were gone, replaced in an instant by more comforting images; her other sister's smile as she combed Louise's hair, the countless times she and Her Highness played together as children, the booming laugh of her father, the reserved "smile" that her mother would make and, recently, her familiar's proclamation that she had power._

_And all were gone, their absence causing her to physically stagger in her dream as the woman's aura receded away from her._

**_Not yet, child, not yet,_ **_the woman chided her as if she was a petulant little girl. **It is time to go back to the rise of my servant...**_

_Once again, the mist enmbraced her and when it receeded, Louise found herself in the eyes of her familiar._

_Pushing the doors of a long-house open, she entered into the structure that sat atop the city of Whiterun. A woman with unnatural dark skin accosted her halfway to the Jarl, drawing her sword and asking her business. After briefly saying something about "Helgen", the guard immediately let her pass to the Jarl, Balgruuf the greater. She began__ talking urgently to the man seated upon a simple wooden throne and with every word she said, his eyes darkened and intensified. His response was immediate, despite the relaxed posture he was holding himself up with: the dragons have returned to Skyrim and people were in need of aid._

_As the Jarl was shouting orders for his soldiers to be mustered, she saw a man in the corner of the hall, garbed in the simple robes of a wizard. She saw his eyes widen when she presented him the stone of ancient writing that she had found in the halls of the dead and he incoherently attempted to thank her as his eyes darted across the tablet. She smiled politely and asked where she could learn to strengthen her magic. Over his shoulder, he hurriedly said that there was a college of magic to the north of the country._

_Before her mind could completely comprehend that statement, the doors of the hall burst open and a messenger came running in, screaming about dragons and the west tower. Time sped by as Louise found herself running with the Jarl's dark-skinned bodyguard and a group of soldiers towards the direction of the tower. She was struck silent as the party beheld the ruin of the stone tower and the wounded and groaning men. She helped up a man, who was raving about the dragon and claimed to still hear its roar in its ears...wait...she could hear it to-_

_"By the gods! Dragon!"_

_It came out of the sky as an apparition of death, white streak of hatred that roared as it fell amongst them, scattering their ranks. It was different from the first dragon she saw at the execution tower, but it held the same characteristics: bat-like wings, notched spikes running down its neck and tail, horns and claws as sharp as spears and eyes that burned with hatred of all living things. She felt her legs shaking as she drew out the sword. Fear had not caused her to become like this. _

_It was anticipation for the battle about to unfold._

_The dragon landed on the ground, sending dust into the eyes of the soldiers that charged at it. They stumbled, and in their hesitation, the dragon Shouted and a tongue of fire flared to life from his mouth, embracing the human warriors in a fiery hold. She shouted and charged at the dragon, swinging her sword at its exposed snout. As it struck, the dragon roared, rearing its head up as it thrust its wings against the ground and shot off into the sky. _

_It circled them, repeatedly sending blasts of frost and fire to the archers as they fired at it, arrows either bouncing off its armored underbelly or barely damaging the behemoth as they only superficially penetrated its leathery hide. Her eyesight tracked it as it tucked its wings and dived into the squad of archers, landing on the ground and crushing an unfortunate soul too slow to escape. In an almost disdainful attitude, it grabbed the nearest warrior who was hacking at its tail, snatching him up in its mouth and shaking him vigorously. Louise winced when she heard the horrible breaking sound of a spine being shattered and saw the man thrown haphazardly to the ground where his blood watered the plains of Skyrim._

_She did not know what made her charge the beast in a blood-curling rage, wielding a two-handed sword and shouting like a beast. It gazed upon her contemptuously and raised its clawed wing to strike her down, but with a strength that was not hers, she batted it aside and sliced the great-sword through the muscle where the head met the neck, bypassing the armored scales and penetrating through skin. __Its roar of pain turned into a gurgle as blood flooded from the would, soaking her in the warm, crimson fluid. In impulse, it knocked her from the ground with its wings and tried to take to the skies, but as it did, a spear from the dark-skinned warrior of the Jarl accompanied it, punching through the silky membrane of its wings. _

_Its eyes burned even hotter as it stared upon them from the sky, its eyes deliberately singling her out amongst the rabble. It drew breath and she saw it begin to say The Word and unleash fire or frost at their party. But instead of a Word or fire or frost that came from its mouth, a torrent of blood burst from the mouth of the beast, raining red drops amongst the ground, caused by the strike Louise had aimed at the throat of the dragon. Too busy it was gurgling that it failed to notice the living lightning flow from the hand of the Jarl's guard. _

_It fell to the ground, snarling at them, snapping at those who came within the reach of teeth, tail and claws, but for every swipe at the guards of Whiterun, it received likewise hatred from the companions and comrades-in-arms of the murdered guardsmen. Louise felt the red-aura take her again and her tired limbs, restored to the prime of her current state, hefted up the great-sword and she threw herself against the dragon, losing herself in a fury of slashing, hacking, biting, breaking and flailing._

**_"NO!"_** _The beast roared, its eyes widening in terror at the final strike to end its existence. **"Dovahkiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!"** The death keen of the dragon echoed through the mountains as the source of its wail was silenced as she drove the blade through its eye, penetrating the skull and destroying its brain, ending the terror both in its body and the one it had sown on the land.__  
_

_A wave of exhaustion overcame her body as the bloodlust left her, causing her to stagger slightly. As she gathered her breath, the Jarl's guard moved to check on the state of the dragon, confirming that it was truly dead. But they were greeted by a surprise as the dragon began to smoke and glow in a golden light. The guards stepped back, crying out in fear, and she shrieked as the flesh and muscle of the beast disintegrated into wisps of smoke and light, swirling in the air._

_With a pulse of energy, the light raced towards her and she threw up her arms to shield herself, but the light went into her, beyond her armor, beyond her body, into her very soul, filling her with an ancient energy. Her body throbbed with power as the light embraced her being before dimming and fading away, all remaining streams of light entering into her heart. Though the sensation was over, she could feel the power of the beast thrumming inside her soul and reverberating with power._

_A strangled sound came from behind her and she turned. The survivors, though battle-hardened veterans of war, were staring slack-jawed at her and the bones of the dragon she had slain, attempting to make words with their mouths and failing. But there was one who managed to whisper one word, filled with disbelief, filled with fear and filled with a hope that had long been thought to abandon the lands._

_"Dragonborn..."_

_And so Louise dreamed of a far-away land, where the blood of countless creatures watered the soil every day and where men and elves fought alongside each other against beasts of legend, carving themselves a name in the weave of fate._

* * *

P.S. I had this interesting plot bunny pop into my head while I was playing 40k with my friends and I had my phone open to the Nasuverse wiki.

The idea went something like this:

_"On the eve of the millennium of fire, where all hope seems to be lost as the shadows encroach from the dark realms, a hero shall arise from the ashes of the dead and take his place amongst the stars. The enemies of the Imperium shall fall before the holy blades that he wields, unlimited in his armoury, sundering the alien and the Great Enemy alike. He shall be my champion, a paragon of morality to all he commands and all those who look upon him._

_He shall be the first of his kind: The Sons of Justice, a new founding of my angels and children._

_His name...is Shirou Emiya."_

One more thing: Can a Noble Phantasm penetrate through the Ceramite Layer and Adamantium plate of Space Marine Power armor? Either PM me or include your personal two cents in the reviews.

******If you have any comments, threats, flames, criticisms, etc. please don't hesitate to PM me or post a review. I will accept it with my head held low and my body and mind humble. Just try not to overly curse me if I did anything overtly stupid.**

**********Good night (for me, at least. Maybe it's in the morning when you read this, so good morning).**

******I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**


	10. The Rumbling Earth: The Fourth Tremor

OK...it turns out that the "Rumbling Earth" arc may stretch out a bit longer than I may have intended, but I will balance this out with bigger and longer chapters. I'm guesstimating that there should be about four more (if I'm lucky) to go until the next arc, "The Gathering of War". Please bear with me as high school is being such a bitch.

And yes, the chapter length is getting longer. I'm shooting for the 10k mark at least, because I kinda need to hurry on the current arc, but I will do the same for others. Please be more patient with me as the writing time is being dragged out because of before-Xmas projects and limited computer interaction. I'm sayain673, people, not gabriel "DA BOMB" blessing, probably the most influential author out of every story I've read.

I remember swearing a private oath to myself that I would never read a vampire "trash" novel that came out of our modern times or else I would speak in a Transylvanian accent for a week, but I find myself now looking for examples on youtube of said accent because of my acquiring of the ONLY good vampire-related novel: Yeah that's right; I'm talking about Tsukihime, another TYPE-Moon spawn to attract my inner fanboy.

And I'm guessing that's another reason why my update rate is slowing...(as of now, my favorite routes are Arcueid's and Ciel's). I'm obsessed with playing all the routes.

Also, I'm in the market for a new computer for myself. Anyone have any reccomendations for a good computer (Do not reccomend Macs; they're silly) that runs on Windows?

___I will try to incorporate Hearthfire as well into this story...maybe even have Dove build himself a house in Tristain? Probably somewhere far away in the mountains or forest would be a suitable home for him to live in...FAR AWAY FROM THE [Italian] INQUISITION. And yes, the house will be BIGAH! No more limit for whatever shit I can build! I'm expanding the house to include...EVERYTHING! Huzzah!_

_I LOVE...**LOVE! fanfiction dot net! It feels so GLORIOUS ! upon my eyes!**_

_**And yes, there will be Gamer Poop References in the future of this story. I mean, seriously, after watching mans1ay3r, who doesn't question his/her sexuality and/or sanity?**_

_******Character Stats (In case you forgot)**_

Name: Dovahkiin (Cannot remember his name)

Alias: Dove Ahkin

Race: Imperial

Factions: All Factions (Companions, Dark Brotherhood, etc.), Thane of All Cities (EDIT: Except for cities that require participation in the Civil War)

Civil War: Undecided

Shouts: All (Need Knowledge about Dawnguard)

Combat Skills: One Handed (100) Two Handed (74), Archery (94), Block (72)

Magic Skills: Destruction (100), Conjuration (100), Alteration (76), Illusion (63), Restoration (100)

Armor Skills: Heavy Armor (100), Light Armor (75)

Crafting Skills: Smithing (100), Enchanting (100), Alchemy (100), Speech (93)

Stealth Skills: Lock-picking (100), Sneak (97), Pickpocket (85)

Armor: Full Legendary!Daedric Set, Full Legendary!Dragonbone Set (Has both Styles), Full Legendary!Iron (Nostalgic Purposes)

Daedric Artifacts: Legendary!Ebony Mail, Saviour's Hide, Spellbreaker, Legendary!Mehrunes' Razor, Azura's Star, Ring of Namira, Ring of Hircine (killed both hunters and werewolf), Legendary!Dawnbreaker, Legendary!Mace of Molag Bal, Wabbarjack, Legendary!Volendrung, Legendary!Ebony Blade, Masque of Clavicus Vile, Skull of Corruption, Sanguine Rose.

Dawnguard DLC: Dawnguard.

Relationship Status: Single

Perks: All Perks (Because of the various nature of the fans and the readers, I'm making a universal male D.B. with ALL perks UNLOCKED as he advances his skils. Curbstomping FTW, jk!)

Paarthurnax: Alive (Delphine is [honestly] a bitch for asking me to kill him)

_Addressing the readers__-_

**Farmer Kyle**- Louise will remember her dreams, but she's going to keep silent for awhile. She's still unsure about the being showing her the dreams.**  
**

**Razaidym**- Yeah, that is true, but technically, ALL Dragonborn have been called "Ysmir" by the Greybeards, including Talos himself.

**Magic**- I can safely say that Sheogorath didn't make Derflinger...though I do believe that the Daedric Prince of Madness will be trolling the Dovahkiin in the next chapter. But the Daedra have had a foothold in Halkegenia since the time of Brimir, but they've remained underground as myths and legends to scare children into eating their supper.

**Dawning Wisdom-** Looking back on it...yeah. But that's Dove's mistake and I'm very sure that Mara is going to be pissed at the confusion.

**Abaddon953- **He's going to be teaching magical combat that involves the kids using THEIR magic in friendly spars with Dove for training. As for WHEN he's going to teach, I've decided that after the Albion fiasco (Meaning after the Viscount's treachery) is the time when Dove will begin teaching magical combat.

**Now, in the style of the legendary gabriel blessing, I will have a brief overview of the chapter, but not *as* spoiler-ladden. But, as I am required to say this...BEWARE FOR SPOILERS!**

**1) ****This chapter is what some would call the "in-between" segment before the Familiar Festival starts and I'm trying to put as much canon stuff into my own little side-quest system without rushing the story. And yes, this is also the "KUI" and Kirche [Attempted] Seduction chapter as well. And I've also set up a chapter layout for myself, akin to the legendary GB. The scenes will open up with Louise's point of view, then shift to Dove's and end with Vaermina's dream sequences with Louise.**

**2) I basically just threw in the side-quest to fill in the time while Louise was in school, and to find a way for Dove to settle his debt to the tavern. And I know, some of you will be telling me that he did it too quickly and that "Skyrim Time" flows faster. This is one of my ways to, as some reviewers say, avoid "sticking to canon too much". And I've been noticing during my re-reads of my stuff that Derflinger barely gets dialogue in. I'm going to do something about that soon, though.**

**3) I want to pint out that**** this is also the chapter that we find out why Dove is single...though I hope I managed to deliver it well. And just like gabe, Dove's love interest does conflict with a little canon (example, UBW!Shirou loving Saber), as the character in question is_ {{{{un-romancable in the game}}}_, but to be honest, that's what mods and fanfiction are for. Good luck guessing who the lucky lady is. And if you do, please don't bother me with reviews and PMs about "a better romance".**

******4) I can definitely confirm that there was/is a Daedric presence in the continent, but they have been dormant for millennia (the last sighting fading back into the legends of Brimir, at least from the _recorded incidents..._). While the Daedric Princes are not hounds to be called into reality by the beck and heading of a spellcaster, I do believe that they will listen to the voice of the Dragonborn, especially since he's not in Tamriel anymore.**

******5) At the point where the chapter begins to resemble something out of a certain genius' work, deal with it. The dialogue inspired me; honestly- who isn't? And let's face it, the seduction scene is pretty much the same generic form as it was in the anime, albeit with some tweaks. And ********I know that the giant attack on the farm near Whiterun happens earlier, but let's just ignore that.**

*I've been writing this while listening to the beautiful Malukah (I will sic the Dark Brotherhood on those who have never heard of this woman) on Youtube who has done amazing covers for several of the bard songs that are to be found in the taverns of Skyrim (ALL YOU COMPUTER NERDS OUT THERE! MAKE A MOD THAT REPLACES THE BARDS' VOICE WITH HERS!). I have got to stop falling in love with that woman's songs.

* A new poll is going up. Don't forget to vote!

**_DISCLAIMER- _****I do not own the Elder Scrolls franchise, nor do I own the Zero no Tsukaima one. They are owned, respectfully by Bethesda Studios and Yamaguchi Noboru. Neither do I own the surprise in the chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten  
****The Rumbing Earth: The Fourth Tremor**

_"Concentrate, Louise."_

_With sweaty hands that were shaking from an hour of physical exhaustion, Louise managed to bring her wand up to her eye and aim at the erected post that was standing innocently about five meters away. Drawing a deep gulp of air that managed to relax her hands for a brief moment, she focused her vision on the target and was about to release the energy she had built up when the tower bells rang, signaling the time for Rising._

_She was startled enough to have her wand divert the path of the intended spells a few meters away from its target. With a rush of air and an explosion of orange and black, a new bare patch of forest was cleared, accompanied by several sets of sundered tree trunks and splinters that would have taken workers the entire day to fell. The only sound to congratulate her on her achievement was the shrieking and cawing of the birds, likewise startled by the disturbance in their homes._

_"...oops," She managed to get out before she collapsed onto the grassy field, legs letting exhaustion take over control of her body, as she was unaccustomed to being awoken before dawn._

_The spectacle was too much for his talking blade as it burst into laughter, its harsh voice joining the clank of metal in its sheathe._

_For a small amount of time, the pre-dawn sky was visible to her as she lay on the grass, noticing how the black-blue of the night was clashing with the red-orange radiance of the rising sun. Then, the shadow of a man appeared in her path, obstructing her view of the dawn sky and giving her a look of apprehension with a combination of grudging admiration._

_"If that was, as you put it, 'oops'," Dove muttered as he glanced towards the smoldering tree-line, "Then I would hate to see a successful casting of your magic, Little Master."_

_She grunted slightly as he gently helped her stand up. "I do believe it is time for morning meal." Her stomach growled at the mention of the prospect of breakfast and she flushed, the emerging dawn bright enough to illuminate her red face to him. With a small laugh, he whistled for his black horse, Shadowmere as he had introduced the mare to her. He seated her on the saddle and swung himself onto the horse's back. With a click of his tongue, the black mare trotted at a steady pace towards the Academy dormitories._

_"I wish to discuss something with you, in regards to magic," he stated simply and all she could do was nod against his back that she was resting on. "It can wait until you have fully refreshed yourself. We can discuss it over fresh fruits and steaming pastries," He added with what she had no doubt was a straight face on his head._

_Shadowmere nickered slightly at the large, earth-shaking sound that came from her stomach._

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"First lesson of magic," I said as I applied a small bit of my own goat cheese to a piece of toasted bread. "Do you know what fuels a mage's ability to use and cast magic?" This was a tactic that I was using to both educate her and assess Halkegenia's grip on magical theory. I highly doubted that they believed in the magika system and invisible-azure bar of energy that would instinctively alert me to my current levels.

"The teachers here have educated us in the concept of 'willpower'," she replied as she took a large swallow of skooma (heavily diluted with milk) from a tankard I provided, pressing the cold metal to her cheek to cool herself down from the workout this morning. Willpower? That was a new one. I asked her if she didn't mind explaining to me as what the concept illustrated.

She gave me an odd look. "Willpower is consumed when the magic is chanted," she said in a slight tone of disbelief. "Didn't you know?"

I shrugged. "My magical theory is different from yours, as I am sure is the case when someone summons a familiar, capable of using magic, from a different realm of existence." I said with only the barest hint of sarcasm. "But I'll explain mine after yours." I added, coaxing her with a chicken leg to continue.

The embarrassed look on her face gradually faded over the course of her explanation. According to Halkegenia's learned mages, the conceptual energy of "willpower" was the fuel that enabled all mages of any rank and element to cast magic. I noted similarities to magika as she elaborated that the quantity of willpower grew as the mage became more experienced and powerful in his or her career.

She was about to explain the arithmetical logic of the theory when the bell for the day classes tolled throughout the school, causing her to jump in alarm. I was still shaking my head at the sheer...well, in retrospect, their grasp on magical theory was there and it did resemble the acceptable theorems of my spells, but it wasn't as strong as the system that was instilled in Tamariel. I had a lot to teach her.

She rubbed the side of her mouth with her napkin before she loaded the used plate and tankard onto the maid's cart. There was the barest flicker of black and I could have sworn on the Shrine of Julianos that there was another maid before I blinked.

Siesta, only giving off the barest hint of physical exertion, loaded our plates onto the cart she was pushing. As she grabbed my plate, I noticed a small flush of red as she accidentally brushed against my hand which turned into a full out explosion of crimson as she made eye contact with my quizzical expression that was on my face. I groaned mentally, resisting the urge to press the palm of my hand to my face. According to the latest rumor that was circulating around the school, several of the commoner servants, primarily those of the females, had declared some sort of "claim" on me. And now, it appeared that Siesta was part of said aforementioned group of commoner-female servants that had taken an interest in me.

Divines and Daedra above...are the amorous affairs of my tumultuous life really that interesting to you? I mean, honestly, I was pretty sure I had resolved to ignore advances after-

No. NO! Do not think about that! Bad, Dovahkiin! Think about...about the Stormcloak Rebellion, or the time I had to go into the Tomb of a Dragon Priest! Do not think about...

_Her._

Dammit to Oblivion. And I had gone three months without thinking about it, having other things at the time to think about as I had left my suspicion of the deities in the air to focus on said other things, the chief of them being my sudden arrival into this world as the Familiar of Louise, "The Zero". The bitter taste in my mouth was returning as the suppressed thoughts that I had tried so hard to bury surged forth back onto the surface of my mind.

_The roaring of the fires._

_The clash of steel in the night._

_The iron taste of blood in my mouth._

_My outstretched hand trying to take back what was precious to me._

_A silver blade raised in an executioner's stance-_

_NO!_

"Is there something the matter?"

The simple sentence jolted me out of the violent series of flashbacks that I had buried with blood. Lots of blood. I turned and Louise flinched slightly. I only realized that the muscles in my face were contorted in a deep snarl after several seconds. Relaxing my face and letting a wan smile grow upon my unhooded face, I replied, "It's nothing, Louise. Just a bad reaction to the cheese wheel. I now believe that wasn't milk that the goat had give-"

"I...don't need to hear this!" she exclaimed as she grimaced and squirmed in disgust as to what my dialogue implied. Deflinger managed to control himself in his sheath but I did feel the vibrations of metal rattling through my back in amusement. After giving her a somewhat forced grin, she managed to compose her demeanor again. "I have to go to classes for the rest of the day. What will you do while I'm absent?"

I shrugged, moving the bones of my shoulder afterwards in order to fully stretch out my limbs. "I'm going to sample the contents of woods, pick up the odd rumor in town and try to pay back the barkeep whose table 'we'"- Here, I inserted a twitch of two of my fingers- "destroyed two nights ago. Go learn something new, Little Master." I said as I gently shooed her towards the towers.

She looked uncertain for the briefest of moments but she gave me a nod and went her way through the hall, turning back only once to give me a wave of farewell. "I expect to see you after classes! We have a lesson to finish!" She shouted before she rounded the corner and disappeared from my sight.

I managed a genuine smile, eagerly shaking off the bad mood that had settled around me when I remembered.

What a dedicated student...she reminded me of Berelyna, clumsiness, spell failure and all.

Save for the lighter skin tone and pink hair.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"Oh, it's you," the barkeep, whoose name I believe was Doran, said as I hitched Shadowmere to the post outside his tavern. Divines, he looked like a wreck. His clothes were wrinkled, beard stubble hung off the edge of his chin and brown hair came over blood-shot eyes as I turned to see him. "I take it you've come to pay me back for the damages you and your...young charge caused?"

I nodded simply, tying the knot tighter around the wood to discourage any horse-thieves in the area (but who in this..._Tristain_ would be brave enough to steal a Daedric horse? Divines have mercy on the poor soul...). "I am going to perform for you at the night," I replied, holding up a finger as I saw an indignant feature cross his face. "As it would be most logical because your laborers, their wives and children will want to dine togther in the evening as working for the nobles seperates them for the day."

A grim confirmation in the sound of a grunt came from him. Clearly, something was agitating Doran. I had come across my fair share of distressed people in the land of Skyrim, each bringing to me requests of aid that tended to spiral from simple and menial tasks into desperate fights in caves of stone and halls of the dead.

"Something's wrong with him, partner." Derf -could I call it that without being struck down by Sheogorath?- muttered to me discreetly. "I can see it in his eyes." Now the blade could see?! This was a bit much, but I managed a small nod in response to the sword's comment.

"Are you okay, sir?" I asked, concerned.

The man sighed and rubbed his bleary eyes. "Late last night, my grandfather's sword was stolen from its mantle on the hearth." He blew his nose with a rag from his side. "The old man was a warrior of great strength and renown..." He trailed off as his eyes glazed over, no doubt in some reminiscence. "I can remember when I was a wee lad that he would sit me on his knee and tell me adventures about caves of darkness and strongholds of shadow; adventures where he and his companions would wander the country without coin or bath for weeks on end..." His vision sharpened again as the memory faded and he returned to the present.

"Those bastards at Hagen's cave took the sword from me in the early morning," he growled, rubbing his eyes. "They're displaced nomads who do nothing but lead the lives of bandits and terrorize our town." He spat on the ground in disgust. "The captain is too busy drilling his knights_-" _he sneered condescendingly "-And the local lord has 'never had time to deal with insignifigant problems'."

Here I was again in a tiny milestone of my adventure, where I would be running around like a mad chicken doing tasks for the local populous. But I have always held the lives of Skyrim's people in high regard as they struggled to carve a living from themselves in an abused land and this world was no different, albeit with a strange system of magic.

"I will go reclaim your grandfather's sword." I declared with a firm tone in my voice, having resolved to painfully kill and maim the bandits. "If you would be so kind, Doran, to provide a map of the providence, I should come back with your blade by evening meal."

**_DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN_**

Striking the flint to a freshly made torch, the fire flared to life as it settled on the stick of wood. Thrusting it before me and drawing Derflinger with my right, the shadows parted before me and the blade as I navigated my way through the rough-hewn walls of the cave. The scent of the deep earth and mineral-gilded water heavily pervaded the air of the cavern, causing an unbidden grin to come to my lips as I recalled the countless times that I had done this with my friends and comrades.

"Are you sure you can handle this, partner?" the sword spoke up as I rounded a corner and made mental notes of the flora and plant life. "These guys aren't nobles anymore, but in my several years of experience, displaced nobles are just as strong as their elevated counterparts."

"And how many years of experience have you had in your existence as a sword, Derflinger?" I dryly retorted, brushing the torch against cobwebs that hung from the ceiling.

"Hmmm..." he pondered and I deftly avoided a bear-trap, using a stone to set off the mechanism. We were getting closer. "I'll have to get back to you on that, partner. I need to think."

Leaving the enchanted blade to his musings and mental calculations, I arrived at the entrence to the next room. The wooden door stood innocently in front of us, but in my experience, it was merely a farce for more sinister things to be hiding behind.

I Shouted softly, letting the Aura Whisper penetrate through the stone walls and earthen hallways. Three figures, outlined in red, were in the room along with the blue outlines of four more people, probably civilians. A plan already sprung into my head by the time I had readied the next spell in my hand. Casting Stoneflesh and sliding the visor of the Daedric Armor down, I readied another spell and kicked down the door, ignoring the surprised clank from the sword at the magical aura that had enveloped me.

Three bandits dressed in crude furs and leather armor were seated at a table that was laden with beer, coin and meat. I saw the other four signatures of life in the form of three women and one young boy no older than five, all behind a cell door that had been hastily constructed out of wood. From the brief glance that I saw before I moved to the bandits, they appeared to be just as surprised at my entrance as their captors were.

"Who the 'ell is that?" the youngest looking of the bunch (I could tell he was but a milk-drinker by the freckles on his face) asked as he stared at the unsheathed Derflinger in my hand.

One of them growled and drew a sword from his side. "It doesn't matter who he is. The boss gave orders that anyone who enters dies." He barked at the stripling before turning his gaze to me. He shouted, "You never should have come-"

I disdainfully threw the lit torch at the de-facto leader of the three man before he could finish the generic statement that apparently all bandits and guards of every realm, dimension and world spouted whenever I did something that offended them, in this case, entering the cave. Due to the fact that the bandits were carousing earlier and had reached a somewhat half-state of self-inebriation, the scent of alcohol reeked off of them, no doubt having spilled their beverages whilst enjoying themselves.

The torch struck true and impacted on the chest of the leader, igniting the alcohol on the cheap leathers and rags that he was wearing. With a shriek, he dropped his weapons and ran about the room, flailing his arms as the flames licked his flesh, fueled by the alcohol and cooking him in his armor. As the other two looked on in horror at their panicked and running comrade, I hefted my shield and charged their position, the magical runes on my left hand shining brightly in the dim illumination of the torches.

Too distracted by the immolation of their comrade, the other two only managed to heft a weak defense to the attack, the milk-sop drawing a sword clearly too big for the lad's arms to handle. Bringing Derflinger in a crushing blow that I had split open steel helms and dragon scale, I shattered the defense of the taller bandit, cracking the wooden buckler that he had strapped to his arm. He screamed as his wrist cracked from the impact and I casually crashed the edge of Derflinger into the side of his head, knocking the poor soul to the ground. I was only what the priests and priestesses of Kynareth would call a "field healer", but judging from the large amout of grey fluid mixing with the blood, I highly doubted that he would be getting up.

The sound of metal clattering on a stone floor alerted me to the last assailant of the room. The milk-drinker had turned the color of the drink that classified his age and his eyes were wide in fear. His gaze flickered towards the still screaming _and_ running body of his flaming comrade and he made a whimpering sound as I advanced, cold steel reflecting the light of the flames and my stoic eyes.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

After several more terse minutes of navigating, liberating, fighting my way through the underground abode of the bandits and tying up those who survived for the local law enforcement to pick up, I finally rounded the corner and found myself in what I could honestly call the center of operations. The cavern was about the size of the typical dungeon that I found myself in (Thank the Divines that there was only ONE dragon in a few certain dungeons) where the stony ceiling stretched far above my head. The shape of the perimiter was in a rough circle, no doubt created as water trickled down from above ground and in the center, a campfire threw around a glow of orange-yellow light that danced on the walls. Three tents were errected around it, but its occupants were not sleeping.

In fact, all of them were awake, swords bared, arrows drawn and maces at the ready, projectiles aimed towards the entrance I was coming out of.

"That's the one, boss!" The archer gestured to me with his arrowhead, tersly whispering to the man in the center of the trio with a giant great-sword and plate armor. "He's the one carving up the lads like a turkey for Midsummer Night's Festival!"

There. Through a mysterious honing instinct that had accompanied me throughout my adventures in Skyrim, I managed to identify the item that Doran had lost: the great-sword that was strapped on the bandit chief. It was as if there was some guiding arrow could pinpoint objects and locations in the world, no matter how far...but that was another story for later.

I marched forward, sword bared, though I had every intention of talking before I lost myself in the throes of mortal combat. "I don't supose that there's no way that I can convince you into handing back Doran's grandfather's sword, is there?" I asked the boss, identified moments ago by the archer.

To my surprise, he actually sighed before responding. "I'm afraid I can't do that. Reputation and what-not." With a sharp intake of breath, he gestured for his comrades to attack me.

By the time the archer's arrow flew from his bow, I already dropped the torch and hefted up my Daedric Shield, knocking the wooden projectile out of the air and hearing it rattle to the ground. The other comrade with the mace came at me, hoping to take me off my guard in the event the arrow was sufficient enough of a distracton.

It wasn't. I smashed the mace out of the way with the shield and reversed the strike, catching the unguarded temple of the bandit with a brutal shield-chop. With a howl, he fell down, clutching the side of his head and moaning incoherently.

"Bastard!" the archer dropped his bow and unsheated two hunting knives strapped to the back of his belt. I didn't like the look of the edges as they caught the dim lighting of the fire. "I can't wait to count out your coin!" He shouted as he charged.

With a swiftness that surprised me, he managed to land a strike on my armor while the edge of my ebony shield caught the other. A keening noise caught him off guard as the blades merely scratched the surface of my chest armor. I countered, using his close proximity to my advantage to grab his shoulder with my left hand and jerk him forward. He stumbled at the force of the pull and quickly reversing Derflinger, I plunged the tip of the enchanted blade into the back of the archer's neck, severing the spine where it met his neck. With a spout of blood and an incomprehensible gurgle, he slumped to the ground, dead, watering the soil of the cave with his vitae.

"Curse you!" the bandit chief howled as his compatriot was struck down. "Though I may die this day, I'll take you to hell with me, blackguard!" With only the barest hint of showing physical exertion, the man drew his great-sword and rushed at me. I caught the crushing blow yet despite my strength, my shield was knocked back. But his strength wasn't the thing that surprised me.

It was the chill feeling that enveloped me, coating the metal edge of Derflinger with hoarfrost and chilling the bones of my body that no natural winter could that surprised me.

There was no other explanation; the blade was enchanted!

"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!" my sword clanked in protest as the cold energy raced through my body. I gritted my teeth and shook off the chill, roaring as I brought a furious counter-cleave aimed at the man's shoulder. The resulting impact of Derflinger landing on the shoulder plate sent a loud _CLANG! _echoing through the cavern and a jolt of pain through my sword arm. But I managed to stagger the bandit chief.

I followed with a strike at the only unarmored spot on the man's body, directing a horizontal slash towards his exposed neck. To my disapointment, the tip of my sword only grazed the skin of his throat and he regained his balance, lashing out with a thrust towards my mid-section. I brought up my shield, smashing the blow out of my way but I felt the chill envelop me again, my muscles groaning in protest as the frost began to slow my body movement down.

I grinned, to the utter surprise of my opponent, who was honestly expecting me to fall from the cold. But this was too good of an excersise for me to nod off to.

I had to finish this though, if I was to be true to my "back by evening-meal" promise to Doran, not to mention the cumulative effect of a frost enchantment running through my body. As he brought the great-sword into a two-handed stance that was, presumably, a cleave, I discarded my shield and grasped Derflinger in both of my hands. The impact jarred my arms as he brought the strike down on me, eliciting an "OW!" from my sword, but I refused to let go as cold ran through me again.

The force of the bandit's blow reverberated back onto him and his arms splayed into the air from the shock of impact. Wasting no movement, I roared as I pulled back Derflinger and thrust it towards my opponent's midsection where the weakest spot in the armor was: the welding in the center of the chest that connected one breast plate to the other. The metal gave into the force that my arm was pushing behind it and it shattered, piercing through the metal, through the threadbare cloth underneath and through flesh.

My opponent gasped as his limbs went slack, dropping the great-sword and instinctively struggling to pull himself off of the enchanted steel that I had run him through with. With eyes showing fear as they finally realized the fate that was about to happen, the bandit chief coughed out a torrent of blood before he passed into the void, slumping on the blade, dead weight now present in the absence of a soul.

I slid Derflinger out of his body and laid him on the ground, quickly going through his pockets before aligning his hands in a pose of the dead. I do suppose that I had to burry the poor bastard, as a gesture to show that he was a worthy and well-fought opponent. But before that...

"It feels so good to be in the hands of a competent warrior!" my sword chirped as I gently slid it back into the sheath across my back. "I knew I made the right decision..."

His words trailed off into the distance as I lifted the sword from the ground where the bandit had dropped it. I was careful not to touch the blade as I examined the workmanship of the smith who crafted it, ere I deal myself frost damage. I turned the sword over to the side where I saw an engraving at the base of the blade before it met the hilt of the grip. I took one look at it and my hands went numb.

The sword dropped to the floor with a loud _clang_ and rattled against the stones and rock that were scattered across the cavern. Landing on the "back" of the blade, the emblem was visible to me, even though the light source was poor. From under a faint, black line, two horns jutted out from opposite sides of the engraving, reaching for the center of the line, but far enough not to touch each other. A single black circle floated in the middle of the two horns, winking back at me as I looked upon it with a shocked gaze.

There was no one in Halkegenia who would recognize the rune, but I had enough -some would say too many- experiences with the denizens of the realm it stood for, unpleasant memories coming back into the back of my mind as the rune of Oblivion innocently stared back at me.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

I returned to the clearing of the wood where Louise had blasted a crater of splinters and fallen trees, having changed into my more comfortable mage robes in lieu of armor. Shaking my head in bemused disbelief, I dismounted Shadowmere, tethered her to a branch and began gathering several pieces of the shattered wood that could be salvaged into dummy targets. There was an abundance of fallen timber, something that I was willingly taking advantage of as I foresaw in the foreseeable future the pair of us going through _several_ targets before her skills were adept.

With a casual flick of my wrist, a fire sprang to life in the kindling that I gathered. I had no doubt that several of my teachers at the College would have been horrified at the casual use of magic to simply start a fire, but as of now, I had other things on my mind as I prepared the body of a deer that I shot when I had exited the cave. I figured that it was around noon-time, so I decided to have mid-day meal at the border of the Academy's forest. Slowly and delicately, I began twisting the deer meat over the crude spit I erected, careful to keep it constantly turning to avoid the venison to burn, sprinkling salt over the meat as my thoughts ran wild in my mind.

Oblivion. The realm of the Daedric Princes and their servants, the fell Daedra. Though I had many dealings with some of the more _benign_ Princes in my past, I was still apprehensive and suspicious of the entities of the plane. What in the name of Akatosh was a steel blade marked with the sigil of the Daedra doing in this world? With a frost enchantment to boot! And how did it get here?! Perhaps on the intervention of Sheogorath?

Whatever the reason, I highly doubted that it was for them to teach the ancestors of Tristain how to make sweet-rolls.

The blade in question was currently stored in my void inventory, silently waiting with the other arms in my armory until I could return it to Doran. Come to think about it, I probably should ask him the old warrior's name. It would be helpful for what I was planning tonight...

The smell of cooked venison soon drifted through my nose after twenty minutes of seasoning and roasting. "Mmmmm..." Derflinger moaned in his sheathe that I laid down next to a fallen timber. "It's been so long since I've smelled the scent of roasting meat, partner...mmmmm..." With a begrudging smile growing on my face, I sliced off a small piece of meat, repositioning the chop to hold it high off the fire pit but still keep it warm, and stabbed it with a fork. I was about to lift it to my mouth when I heard the most odd noise coming from behind me.

"Kuiiii..."

I turned to find the source of the noise and I almost drew out my sword by force of habit, before realizing I had set Derflinger down. It took all of my willpower and self-control not to activate a spell and unleash it on the blue dragon that was staring me in the face. Breifly, I remembered that this was the dragon that I had calmed down on my arrival and belonged to the small, blue-haired girl and I had no doubt that she would be quite angry if I killed her dragon due to my sharpened instincts and ate its soul like a sweetroll.

I was under the impression that most of the familiars, me being an obvious exception for the time being, would be in the company of their masters for mid-day meal. But, there would be an ounce of logic in the fact that I highly doubted the school would allow a dragon to stalk the hallways, despite the manner she presented itself at the moment; docile.

"Um...partner?" I heard Derflinger whisper to the side. I made a motion with the back of my hand for him to shut up as I focused on the situation.

Had the girl ordered her dragon to attack me when I had my guard down? If that was the case, the dragon was doing a poor job of it. She was just standing there, frozen in what seemed almost like in a trance, her eyes locked on…

Wait a moment. I looked towards the piece of venison I had on the utensil in my hand and traced a line of sight from it to the eyes of the dragon. Deciding to gamble on a chance, I lifted it up to my mouth and sure enough, her eyes tracked the path of the cooked meat. I confirmed this further when I slowly waved the morsel in the air and her entire neck and head moved so that her eyes could stay locked on the sliver of venison.

"...Would you like some?" I asked hesitantly, gesturing to the steaming roasted venison on the spit. I wasn't proficient enough in the Dragon Tongue to beget such a request, so I sincerely hoped that Common would work. The dragon's eyes instantly darted up to my face, and she began to nod its head enthusiastically. To see a dragon, even though it was different from its kindred in Skyrim, behaving like a hungry puppy was (honestly?) a bit disturbing and creepy.

It was also more than a little adorable.

With a bemused snort, I sliced off a chunk of the seasoned meat and tossed one into the air in the dragon's general direction. She trilled happily and snatched piece out of the air with a long red tongue. When she caught it, she took it into her mouth with a snap of her tongue and jerked her head back as she swallowed the morsel. Her eyes visibly widened as the flavors exploded in her mouth and she made a noise akin to a content cat, trilling and stretching her wings.

This process continued until only some bones were left on the spit and the last piece vanished into her mouth. I laughed again. It finished its meal, and then looked at me closely. Its head darted down, and it started to nudge me quickly all over.

Derflinger laughed riotously and Shadowmere nickered in what I could have sworn was a bemused neigh as I was being molested by a blue dragon. "Hey! Calm down, girl! I don't have any more food," I let loose a grunt as the searching head managed to find the nerve point in the side of my ribs. The dragon brought her head directly in front of mine, meeting my eyes hopefully. "I'm being serious, That was all I cooked," I protested, holding my empty hands to show that I wasn't hiding anything and telling the truth.

The female dragon let out a sad trill, but seemed to return to happiness when I began to scratch its chin as one would a cat. I vividly remember doing this to Saber, my Snowy Sabre Cat kitten who I adopted after an Animal Extermination quest with Aela left the recently born cat with no feral, wild parents. As I was a bit of a sentimental sort to cute, I ended up domesticating it, in the hopes of gaining an animal familiar who would grow up strong. And last time I checked, she was. Divines, she looked so adorable mauling my stock of chickens at Heljarchen Hall.

The dragon reacted the same way Saber did, letting out a purr of content that I could feel through my arm as I began to munch on the tiny sliver of venison I had left. I was completely surprised as to what happened next as she suddenly reared up and grabbed my arm in her mouth, chomping her jaw down on the cloth sleeve of my robes. With an indignant grunt, I was jolted to my feet, having enough haste to grab Derflinger and his sheathe and loop it around my back as I was dragged down the pathway by the dragon.

I shuddered slightly at the dark look Shadowmere threw at me before I untethered her with an ice spike that split the ad-hoc hitching post. With an indignant snort, she followed the trough in the earth that my dragging feet made, trotting a few meters behind us.

The only reason I didn't make a move to free my self was that there seemed to be no malicious intent that was radiating from my captor, but I was still uncertain as to why the sudden abduction. As I my boots and robes grew dirty at being dragged and Derflinger's laughter increased, I sighed, pressing my two free fingers to the bridge of my nose, pinching it in abject exasperation.

Even dragons of a different world, the distant sons and daughters of Akatosh, were not immune to the whims of a certain, bored Prince of Madness...

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

The end of my journey came to a stop in the form of a bench in the Magic Academy courtyard. With a muffled trill of happiness, she managed to seat me on the wooden seat and trill happily before going to the other figure sitting at the opposite end. It was only until I saw the staff and blue hair that I identified the dragon's blue-haired master, who was currently reading a book with her indifferent expression on her face.

With a muttered curse and a shove to keep Derflinger silent in his sheathe, I began inspecting the damage done to the sleeve of my robes. It didn't seem too bad, but I would have to enchant the string to sew shut the several holes that the earnest dragon's teeth caused. That could be taken care of before I went to sleep.

I moved the sleve out of my face to behold the expectant look of a dragon staring back at me, apparently having met her master and gotten bored with her company and sought mine. With a happy trill, she collapsed on my legs and I let out a "erk" as its bony head crashed onto my midsection, the spikes on the jaw barely missing my-

The girl next to me brought up her staff and lightly wacked, more accurately _boinked_, the wooden tip on the her dragon's forehead. "...no bothering." she whispered without taking her eyes off of her book. Her familiar let out a mewling sound of disappointment before retreating back to her.

I let out the sigh of relief that I had been holding and consciously dragged my sleeve across my forehead. "Thanks, miss." I said, deciding that despite the circumstances that brought us together for lunch, now would be a good time to introduce myself and recieve a name in return. "Don't worry about any damage; I can easily fix my clothes. But I don't believe that we've been introduced, Miss...?" I finished, waiting for her to finish my sentence.

She looked up from her book and looked at me with half ladden eyes and I was shocked at the sheer...deadness that resided in them. "Tabitha..." she whispered before I nodded and she returned to her book, the turning of the page reflected off of the glasses she was sporting.

I heard the sound of hooves accompanying the sound of leather shoes and I saw Shadowmere heading towards me with Louise in tow. "Dove?" she asked when she saw me, surprise clearly written on her face. "What are you doing here? I saw your horse..."

"Let's just say that a certain Prince of Madness was bored..." I interuppted, too eager to forget my abduction by a giant lizard and shift the blame onto a certain, laughing Daedra. "And decided to interfere with the happenings of my life."

The look of incredulity and confusion was apparent on her face as she drew near. I honestly couldn't blame her; my more recent adventures, especially those that were occurring in this world, were starting to resemble a really bad story that was being orchestrated on the side by several cosmic dieties who were only too eager to cause mayhem in my life.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

In the end, I decided to stay in the Academy until classes ended, reading books and doing other tasks before I rode to the tavern to fufill my promise to Doran. I was surprised that Louise insisted on coming, but I eventually decided to let her come on my little erand for the commoners. My insight told me that experiencing a brief slice of life of the worse-off would be an eye-opener for the young noble.

"You got it!" Doran exclaimed in shock as I presented him his grandfather's sword upon entering his tavern, drawing the gazes of several patrons towards us. "You actually got it back from the bastards!"

His eyes opened wide as he unsheathed a shimmering great-sword, splendid in a metallic sheen that caught the orange flames of the fire. "I sharpened the blade and oiled it so it would look..." my mind struggled for words. As a precaution, I had emptied the enchantment on other deer in the forest, depleting the charge in the Daedric blade as to prevent unnecessary accidents. Unfortunately, that left the blade with bloodstains and a dull edge. Feeling a tad bit guilty, I took a file and a can of oil to it. Derflinger initially complained about "being a bit less shiny than he was supposed to be", and because I did not want to anger a talking sword that had the possibility of being connected to the Prince of Madness, only now reinforced by Doran's Daedric sword, I had promptly promised to oil him during the night.

"...ready for battle." I finished, shifting the lute strapped on my back into a more comfortable position. "Are your guests ready to listen?"

It took a few seconds for my question to sink in before he tore his eyes away from his sword. "Ah. Yes they should be," he said before rushing to an empty rack over the mantle and hanging the blade over the fireplace. He then announced my appearance to his patrons, who turned to me and either gave me a polite nod, a begrudging smile (no doubt from the REAL ale that I had given some of them the last I was here) or a look of barely disguised distaste.

I put Louise at the table closest to the stool that was given to me, in the event that things were going to turn sour, seating Derflinger in an empty chair next to her. "Watch closely, little master," I told her as I tweaked the pegs to get the strings in tune. "This is how the bards in my land sung...although I must admit that my renditions are better." I admitted with a sheepish rub that went to the back of my head, repressing the urge to shudder in horror of the renditions that the "bards" of Skyrim performed.

I had no doubt that my audience would have no idea what I would be singing about, but it mattered not. What mattered was entrancing them into a story...my story, brought to life through voice and lute The dull roar of the patrons was lost to my ears as I strummed the first chords of the song, my fingers gliding effortlessly over the strings, plucking and caressing the catgut cords as they reverberated through the tavern, carrying over my deep voice on the air:

_Alduin's wings, they did darken the sky  
__His roar, fury's fire, and his scales, sharpened scythes.  
__Men ran and they cowered, and they fought and they died.  
__They burned and they bled as they issued their cries..._

**_Dovahkiin_,_ Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, _**  
**_Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal..._**  
**_Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan, _**  
**_Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal..._**

The song I was currently singing was a relatively new rendition of the "Tale of Tongues" by a female bard of unknown origins that was composed after I had slain Alduin in Sovngarde. It had become somewhat of a personal quest of mine to track her down but I was regrettably unable to find her in any tavern in all of Skyrim. Along with the Common lyrics, she had added words from the ancient Song of the Dragonborn, in the original Dragon Tongue no less, to occupy the spaces in between verses. It was pure genius on her part. Perhaps the reason I could not find her was because the rendition she sang was unearthly and ethereal, making her some sort of cosmic occurance. I cared not, though, save for the fact that I was honoring her through the song.

_We need saviors to free us from Alduin's rage.  
Heroes on the field of this new war to wage.  
And if Alduin wins, man is gone from this world.  
Lost in the shadow of the black wings unfurled..._

___But then came the Tongues on that terrible day.  
Steadfast as winter, they entered the fray.  
And all heard the music of Alduin's doom.  
The sweet song of Skyrim, sky-shattering Thu'um..._

My mind traveled back to the battle between the black dragon and my friends and I as the lyrics went along the appropriate verses. The battle between the devourer and my company was not as straightforward as the original composer had originally lain down on parchment. No, it had been a desperate battle with much oath-roaring, Thu'um shouting and blood-spilling. With an internal smirk, I continued in the song, taking the slightest of breaths to regain the air and mark a rest in the piece.

_____And so the Tongues freed us, from Alduin's rage.  
Gave the gift of the Voice, ushered in a new Age.  
If Alduin is eternal, then eternity's done.  
For his story is over and the dragons are gone..._

Normally, any other bard would have stopped at this point, but I continued, closing my eyes in rapture and vocalizing as the strumming countered my melodious voice, mimicking the style of the female bard. My fingers began plucking the tie-in back into the lyrics and I returned to the words in a somber tone.

_____And so the Tongues freed us, from Alduin's rage.  
Gave the gift of the Voice, ushered in a new Age.  
If Alduin is eternal, then eternity's done.  
For his story is over and the dragons are gone..._

When the last echo of my voice faded away into the air of the tavern, I opened my eyes to the room and my audience. Not one of them was not looking at me and all of them had ignored their food and drink, completely focused on me. I saw slack jaws, wide eyes and (from both the women AND the men) hands over their hearts with the look of extreme satisfaction. I noticed Louise was staring at me in a similar pattern, her pink eyes clearly visible despite the poor lighting, and Derflinger rocking in his seat, humming the song and swaying to the rhythm of the piece.

The silence was broken with the roaring applause and smattering hands of over twenty people, bouncing off of the wooden walls of the tavern as they echoed endlessly and dissonant that would have, according to my fellow bards, a negative impact on my hearing.

It was a beautiful sound.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"I'm surprised that they had such a positive reaction to you, Dove," Louise stated, rubbing her ears as I tethered Shadowmere to the school stables and left several of my best red apples in the feeding shelf. Throwing a horse blanket over her frame, I patted the side of her head in affection before Louise and I walked back to the school.

I shrugged in response. "What I just did was probably the best thing in entertainment for them in the year," I simply stated as I removed the tether from Derflinger's sheathe so I could let the blade speak. "The laboring class lead dreary lives, toiling under the yoke of the wealthy, so it is understandable for them to have a reaction like that to a new source of entertainment to distract them from their lives."

"It's a sad truth, partner," the blade quipped. "In the years of my experience, its pretty much the same."

"And how many years of experience do you have?" the pink-haired girl next to me asked dubiously.

"Oh, yeah! Sorry, partner, but I do know how many years I've been 'living'," he suddenly exclaimed and I found my attention solely focused at the blade. "It took me a while to think, but I finally have it: six thousand years." He proclaimed.

Had I been carving out an engraving on my armor, the chisel would have probably skewed off, creating an irreparable scratch in the metal, at that information. Had I been eating a sweet roll, I would have choked on the pastry in response. The countless possibilities of encounters were endless and all were as ridiculous as the next, but I, a weapon fanatic, had to mentally and physically repress a groan of pleasure.

"Six millennia," Louise whispered, too awed to even speak.

"It's probably older then the civilization that came before the civilization that came before the civilization we're in now," I whispered, completely frozen in my tracks in awe at the blade's longevity and mentally averaging out the math in my head as to the time span of an Age. "Do you have any idea how much he's seen, how much it has experienced? The knowledge and skills it has acquired?" Oh Sweet Mara, I would have such a time interrogating Derflinger for information about this world...over a cup of whatever he thought smelled nice at that moment. This information even had me put aside the fact that there could be a connection to it and a certain Daedric Prince...damn it.

My master gulped at that information. "No wonder he sounds like an old man."

"Hey!" the sword yelled, but Louise was quick to appease him. "An old man with a greater amount of knowledge and skills and experience that I could possibly ever have in my lifetime," she added quickly. "And is probably infinitely wiser than the elders of the country."

"You know what, you're all right too, girl!" the blade laughed and the vibrations traveled through my back.

Whatever was Louise was about to say to that admission was interrupted as I suddenly found myself knocked to the ground. Derflinger slipped out of my back as a great weight slammed into my side and sent me sprawling to the ground. Damn! I had let my guard down with the lack of combat, forgetting about today's tussle with the bandits of course. I readied a spell to throw at my attacker and the flames on my ignited hand turned and aimed towards...

...a giant, red, and possibly flamable, lizard.

"Flame?" Louise said in astonishment at the creature's arrival. The word meant nothing to me, but I assumed it was the name of the salamander that had assaulted me. I was hesitant after that in the fact that Louise had recognized my assailant, but in my brief moment of lapse, it had taken the opportunity to lick my hands that were on fire and coat them with saliva, akin to Saber licking my hands after I had cooked fish for a meal. Before I could do anything else, it took a giant _slurp_ as it licked the side of my face and caught the bottom of my robe before dragging me away to some unknown destination, croaking happily as Louise and Derflinger just stood there stunned.

As my vestments caught on the ground and my body bumped on the various detritus and stone on the ground, I came to a sudden revelation about the universe and the workings of the cosmos.

It was now confirmed: Sheogorath's sphere was not only that of madness and insanity, but of reptiles and scaled beasts as well.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow...OW!" I exclaimed that last interjection of pain as my body was being dragged up countless flights of stars, the steps causing my head and body to bounce painfully in a disjointed rhythm. I quickly thanked the Divines that no one (from Skyrim) was here to witness me being manhandled by a giant salamander and repeating a single word like a milk-drinker. But damn it to Oblivion, the salamander was strong to be able to drag me and my void armory...I mentally cursed the day I had decided to enable my body to carry full sets of armor without any negative consequence. Had I not done that, I probably would not be in this situation with the weight of the master armor weighing me down.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I asked the lizard, but it was too busy running and croaking to hear my question. Oddly, I wasn't as panicked as a normal person would be if he or she was suddenly snatched from his or her friends by a giant lizard.

As I cleared the top stair, "Flame" shot through an opening in the stonework, carrying, more accurately dragging me through a hallway that I briefly recognized as the same that Louise's room was in before the salamander took me to the end of the hall and, croaking happily, tossed me into an open door, which I assumed to be the layer that he resided in; a darkened room lit only by candles and strewn with rose petals.

This...was unexpected, to say the least. But who's familiar-

"Welcome," a voice said above me, interrupting my thoughts as I eyed the great lizard perched next to me like a cat happily croaking. The _whoosh_ of air that swept through the room accompanied the sudden illumination of several lanterns strewn in a circular pattern around a very...fluffy bed and on said fluffy bed, Kirchie, the girl who Louise seemed to argue with a lot and gave me a disturbing look in the class, lay on her side, arms stretched above her head. Actually, Kirchie lay on her side, arms stretched above her head, clad in what seemed to by rather..._lacy_ undergarments.

Oh, hell.

"Welcome to my room, Dove Ahkin..." she purred, lifting her finger to trace the curve of her lips as she said my name. "I'm glad that Flame found you in such short of a time...it gives me more precious seconds to get to know you..."

While my face didn't show it, my mind was having a hurricane of thought as I noticed the girl shifting her position and coming closer to me. At least I confirmed that the salamander belonged to Kirchie, but I had a grim feeling that the girl was somewhat..._promiscuous_, as Louise and I had discovered yesterday, but I had no idea that it would be on an entirely different scale. I tried to say words to diffuse the situation, but there was a hard lump in my throat that I just couldn't seem to swallow. Mind you, I have seen my fair share of scantily clad and/or naked women, but the age difference staggered and disturbed me. She was no more than sixteen summers but I was at least in the middle of twenty!_  
_

In the back of my mind, I added another Divine to the list of cosmic entities trying to tie me to a bed; Dibella, the goddess of love, beauty and (to a vast majority of the people of Tamriel) erotic instruction. Mehrunes Dagon, take me to hell. They just wouldn't give up after-

NO! Think about something else! You already lapsed into a bad mood today, you don't need to end the day on one! Focus on something else, you fool! my mind shouted desperately at me to avoid thinking about my trauma.

Unfortunately, the only thing for me to focus on was the young woman in front of me who seemed to have some sort of amorous plan(s) for me.

"My secondary name is 'The Ardent'," she purred, her hands delicately going up and down her exposed flank (having been revealed by the cut of the fabric), trailing the underside of her rather...accentuated chest. "But after I saw your battle against Guiche, ardent wasn't sufficient." Her fingers trailed down her full thighs. "I've fallen in love with you, Dove Ahkin," she breathed, her voice low and heavy with passion.

I think I made some sort of noise in my the back of my throat.

The very room was full of the scent of arousal. I found my fingers twitching nervously behind my back in the face of this whole new, unexpected and completely UNPRECEDENTED assault. She slowly lowered herself till she was kneeling in front of where I was on the ground, her dress low enough for me to see into- bad! Every movement she made was sensual grace given motion, dripping and gushing sex.

I blame Sheogorath for that last analogy. Him and Dibella.

"I must admit that I have never had a woman approach me in this manner," I managed to get out and at, that she began to slowly inch her way towards me, her full bosoms heaving at the motion, her breath quickening and my mind almost shut down at the display. "But there's a big age difference and the fact that your familiar-"

The door behind me slammed open with the force of a vengeful god and my battle instincts allowed me to dive out of the way of the accelerated piece of wood. Blocking out the light from the hallway stood Louise, fury written across her face and Derflinger nestled in the crook of her arm. Her wand was drawn and I noticed that she seemed to be eager to have a training session in the room now, with the red-head as her practice target. Never mind collateral damage, if it managed to cool the air to about the temperature of the mountains of Skyrim, I would eagerly embrace it.

"Zerbst..." my very angry master growled out, apparently selecting the target she found most appropriate for her wrath.

Derflinger burst into laughter at the spectacle, apparently finding an awkward, and potentially dangerous, situation amusing. "You never cease to impress, partner!" roaring in laughter as he looked upon the funniest event he had seen in the last couple of years. Scratch that, _centuries_. Unless I counted the events that lead up to this moment, such as the explosion, the bar fight and Tabitha's blue dragon.

"Valliere?" Kirche asked, thankfully breaking out of her mind set, surprised at Louise's rather sudden and loud arrival, "What are you doing here?"

"I think that when your familiar drags mine away from me, I think that my presence in your room is justified!" she shouted that last bit as she clenched her wand tightly. I heard the protest as the wood began to groan under the pressure.

Kirche threw a glare at salamander in the corner who'd been watching the whole scene with animal like amusement, all the while croaking in happiness of the presence of his master and his recent teething-toy. "Flame! I told you to wait until he was alone!" she scolded the lizard. The lizard just croaked happily and rested itself on the pillow it had decided to make, namely, that of my leg.

What the name of Oblivion was with all manners of scaled beasts wanting to attack me?! If it wasn't the dragons of Alduin come to make a meal out of me for the forces of evil, it was the reptiles of this world who assaulted me out of pure affection. Was there something about me that appealed to them that other animals could not pick up upon? Did my dragon's soul "smell" of some species of reptile that could only be detected by kindred bearing scales or cold blood running through their veins? It did have a certain logic...and explained why so many damned dragons attacked me in Skyrim; they could track the scent of my soul.

Dismissing the thoughts about the smell of my soul and the reason of the sudden attraction of reptiles, I gently picked up the salamander off of my feet, my calm demeanor returning, and setting it on a cushion on the floor. "Not that I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I have to decline," I said, sighing as my thoughts instinctively went back to my trauma.

The look on her face suggested to me that she had never been turned down by one of her..._targets._ "Why?" she demanded of me, appearing distressed by my refusal to even notice Louise and the laughing sword. When I saw her legs move to begin crawling towards me, I shot up and stepped back a pace to distance myself from the amorous girl. "I love you, Dove," she moaned and Louise's and mine eyes twitched in response to that statement. "My body aches for you. Please, why won't you love me back?"

I was going to say something potentially degrading, but decided to do something more diplomatic to completely diffuse the situation; tell the damn truth...albeit with a *slight* twist.

"Because I already have a lover."

"What?" both girls cried out in shocked synchrony, while another, more metallic one, just kept laughing. Kirche turned to glare at Louise, and she in turn just stared at me in with wide eyes, before they suddenly narrowed.

"The maid-servant..." she growled and I quickly moved to intervene before said maid became a target.

"No," I bluntly stated, successfully keeping the dark tone out of my voice. "Back in my homeland." Both of the girls' eyes widened again at that, and Derflinger managed to suppress his mirth long enough so he could hear every word that came out of my mouth. "Don't forget, I was summoned here, quite unexpectedly," I added in a helpful tone. "It shouldn't be a surprise that I have someone waiting for me back home."

Home...the word tasted bitter in my mouth, resembling that of ashes in a hearth after a furious blaze of fire, unquenchable and ravenous, leaving nothing in its wake.

My little master's eyes widened at the logic of my words as her mind processed the situation while Kirche seemed to shrug it off with little more than a small release of breath. She smiled, relieved. "I don't mind," she declared, and leaned forward off the bed to capture my lips.

I pushed against her shoulder, stopping the enamored girl in her tracks with a serious glint in my eyes. Earlier I was caught off guard by the suddenness of the sensuality of the girl, but now that I had recovered my guard, I would not fall for it a second time, adding more mental barriers to my self-control. "I most certainly do, though," I pronounced.

She held my gaze for a moment longer, and then a smile graced her lips once more. "If you think that that stopped me, you're wrong," she stated with a bright tone, putting her hands on her hips. "It's only made me want you more."

"Want some more, then," I retorted dryly, turning my back on her and gently taking the still-laughing blade and slinging it over my shoulder. With a small nod and smile, I gestured to Louise that it was time to exit out of the den of sensuality.

Her eager steps couldn't have told me anything more.

_**DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN DOVAHKIIN **__**DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**__** DOVAHKIIN**_

_As she lay in her bed, Louise couldn't believe it; her familiar had withstood the seductions of that stupid Kirchie when all other boys in the Academy had tripped over their own feet fighting for her affections. She glanced to the side of her pillow, watching him silently oil and sharpen the talking sword she had bought him. His eyes were clear and focused, but they held a trace of...some sort of longing in them._

_She supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised that he had a lover from his home. To be honest, he looked older, much more mature than anyone in the building but still in the height of his youth. It should have come without saying that he would have no trouble finding a lover, but the shock that he had one surprised her when his initial demeanor told her everything but._

_Dismissing the thoughts, she closed her eyes and the noise of his grind-stone faded away as she embraced the exhaustion that plagued her._

_This time, the mysterious lady was waiting for her, seated at a table in her mind, instead of coming to her after she had fallen asleep. The mist had parted as more of her figure was revealed. Long robes trailed off of her arms and the tri-pronged tip of her staff was visible. But only her smile was visible, the rest of her face obscured by the fog._

_**It appears that my champion has spotted a lost relic of ours in an adventure, **she cackled, stabbing her staff into the ground so she could rub her hands in excitement. **I actually miss that old fool who used to fight in our name. **__Louise was briefly confused by the words that her guest was saying as she took a seat at the table._

_**Oh, don't worry, child, **s__he responded, as if she could read her mind. __**I have no doubt that he'll explain what happened today in the future.**_

_**But what surprised me more,** the lady continued, as she took a small sip of the tea that mysteriously appeared on the table,_ _**Is the fact that he actually revealed that he had a lover...so many dreams, so many** **nightmares because of her**, she sighed as she poured Louise a cup. Her response to this was to immediately take said cup of tea and slurp the contents for fear of offending the woman seated opposite of her.__**  
**_

_The woman cracked a brief smile at her antics before yanking the staff out of the ground. **It is time for your night lessons, child,** she said as the mist began to thicken at the tip of the prongs. **Do not think that sleep will exempt you from learning...**_

_With a familiar lurch, the mist swooshed in a blizzard of condensed fog, the table and woman vanishing in the haze and once again, Louise found herself in the eyes of her familiar._

___"Dragonborn..." The word lingered in the air like the sweet smell of spring, refusing to fade away even after last bloom._

_She displayed confusion at the sudden term that he identified her with and he was only too eager to comply and explain things. In the history of Skyrim, where dragons still roamed the land, there was a man who would travel the country, slaying them and absorbing their mystical power into their very beings; that was the Dragonborn, who had saved them all from the green dragon. Feeling a bit flustered, she tried to explain that she had no idea what had happened when the dragon died but another guard suggested that she try to Shout...whatever that meant._

_But at those words, something stirred inside her, roaring to be let out in a single release of breath. It threatened to consume her, but she would be the one controlling it, not the other way around. Channeling her newfound source of power into the one word that she hoped would be a release, she reared back her head and Shouted to the sky, bearing her soul to the elements of Skyrim._

_**"FUS!"**_

_A blue wave of energy raced through the air, slightly staggering those who were closest to her as the air rippled with power. She felt a familiarity in it as if she had seen it before, but awed looks dawned on the faces of the men, forcing her attention elsewhere. They consulted their commander as to the validity of her Voice. The dark-skinned lady made a retort about putting more faith in swords than in faith and legends, but she did admit that there was something to be said about killing a dragon. With a gesture to the men and her, they began the trek back to the Jarl._

_She and the other warriors had just entered the city when it happened. The earth rumbled and the sky shook as a single Word ripped through the air from the very Throat of the World, causing the entire populous of Whiterun to fall over in fear or in awe as the Word reverberated across the land of Skyrim._

_**DOVAHKIIN!**_

_In the longhouse of the Jarl,__ Balgruuf first asked what had happened and after delivering a report, she added that the she absorbed energy from the dead beast. With an awed tone in his inflection, he pronounced that indeed, the Greybeards had summoned her. Upon the question forming upon her lips, he eased her confusion by explaining__that the Greybeards, noble and silent monks atop the mountain, had called for her, summoning her to the monastery of High Hrothgar where she would be trained in the Way of the Voice. That was the reason that the earth had rumbled and shook. __With a smile on his face, the Jarl proclaimed her the Thane of Whiterun, assigning her a..."housecarl"...whatever that meant and bestowed upon her a sword._

_With the items secured, she made her way to the front as another argument between Hrongar and Avenicci erupted, eager to get out of the way of the flying words. She was stopped at the door by a woman in steel armor, who introduced herself as "Lydia" and swore to guard "[her] and all that [she] owned, with her life". Her mind flew to the revelation that her familiar made; was this to be the one that would become his future lover?_

_Before she had time to contemplate, the mist swirled again and she found herself at a farm near the city, where three warriors were being attacked by a giant. She called to Lydia and unsheathed the steel sword at her side, rushing to aid the defenders against their plight. The giant grunted at the arrival of two new combatants and stomped over to the arriving pair, ignoring the twin helping up his other from the ground and the red-haired huntress behind it._

_Louise swung her sword and managed to tear a small wound in the giant's arm, retreating slightly when it stomped on the ground. She heard the shrill_ wizz of_ an arrow fly and strike the giant in its chest, but it roared, infuriated at their pathetic attempts to slay it. Raising its arm in a high stance, it brought the club in a crushing arc, knocking her off of the ground and against a fence that she crashed through._

_Dazed and winded, she tried to gather her breath to stand up as the giant approached her. She saw Lydia charge at it with a greatsword, but it merely grunted in annoyance and smashed its club into the recently appointed housecarl, tossing her aside like a milk-drinkers doll. Fury ran through her veins as it grew nearer. She was the Dragonborn, a warrior of the Divines themselves! And she would be damned if she let a mere dullard take her to Sovngarde!_

_Gathering the energy in her chest, she Shouted a Word at the approaching giant with the rage of battle accompanying its flight._

_**"FUS!"**_

_The familiar blue blast raced through the air, staggering the beast as it took the full brunt of the blast. It fell back several paces and roared at the delay of the kill, but the arrival of the recently recovered Lydia and the three warriors distracted its attention as the four fell upon it with hacking blades and gore-dripping axes._

_The giant was dead when she finally managed to stagger over to its corpse with one arm wrapped around Lydia's shoulder. The red-head, who Louise took a slight dislike to as her clothes (while more...modest in nature) reminded her of a certain classmate that slept across from her room, looked her up and down, saying that she was a good warrior, but needed some serious work in fighting, which Louise accepted with an embarrassed grin as her other arm rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. The huntress, whose name was Aela, suggested that she come to the mead hall next to Dragonsreach, Jorrvaskr, if she wanted to become a skilled warrior of Skyrim._

_She felt the thoughts of her familiar roaring through her mind as he evaluated himself in his current state. He was still weak and would have fallen. Killing the dragon was only done with the aid of the guards and he/she would have fallen if Aela and the twins were absent from the fight. Swearing to become stronger, she silently, but furiously, resolved to become stronger in order to present herself to the Greybeard monks as a seasoned combatant._

_With a smile on her face, she gestured for Lydia to take her to said mead hall, following the trio back to their abode in the city._

_And so Louise dreamed of a far-away land, where giants stalked the land and veteran warriors, wizards and killers invited her to their inner circles, where she would train to become a worthy warrior to live up to the gift of her destiny._

* * *

******If you have any comments, threats, flames, criticisms, etc. please don't hesitate to PM me or post a review. I will accept it with my head held low and my body and mind humble. Just try not to overly curse me if I did anything overtly stupid.**

**********At any rate, my xmas/New Year's gift to y'all is another chapter (I hope, since I have a good idea as to what comes next) before 2013.**

******I hope you enjoyed the chapter. **


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